“Education is not the learning of facts but the training of the mind to THINK.”

- Albert Einstein

Islington Junior Middle

School

Monthly Newsletter October Edition October 2016

Inside

Principal’s Message

Everything you need to know

to support your children with

learning and success this

year!

We have had a wonderful beginning to the new school year and we are looking forward to a busy fall filled with exciting school events and in-class programming! We would like to thank all of our parents and community members who attended the Islington JMS Curriculum Night and BBQ on September 21, 2016. Our students were overjoyed to show their parents/caregivers around the school and we, as a school, valued the opportunity to meet with each of you and share our vision and goals for the year. This year, we will continue to host our monthly Student of the Month (SOTM) assemblies in celebration of students who demonstrate the Character Education trait for the month.

October 2016

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Islington JMS Newsletter

SCHOOL HOURS AND SUPERVISION

8:35 AM Supervision in main schoolyard provided

8:50 AM Entry Bell

10:05 - 10:15 AM Recess

11:35 AM Lunch

12:35 PM Entry Bell

2:00 - 2:10 PM Recess

3:15 PM End of Instructional Day (Kindergarten)

3:20 PM End of Instructional Day (Grades 1 - 8)

The main schoolyard is supervised from 8:35a.m. - 8:55 a.m., each recess, and over the lunch hour each school day. The schoolyard is not supervised after 3:35 p.m. We recommend that children not be in the

schoolyard beyond the supervised times unless with a parent/guardian.

Islington JMS is committed to maintaining a safe and healthy learning environment for all students. Sabrina's Law requires every school board to establish and maintain an anaphylactic policy that includes strategies to reduce the risk of exposure to anaphylactic causative agents in classrooms and common school areas. We all must do our best to keep nuts out of the school and yard during the school day. There are children AND staff in the school who have life-threatening allergies to nut products. For this reason, we will remain Food Sharing Free. We ask that parents do NOT send baked goods for parties. Whether you are living with an allergy yourself or are concerned about people in your community, more information about life threatening allergies is available on the Anaphylaxis Canada’s website at http://www.anaphylaxis.org/ or by calling 416-785-5666.

The October trait is Responsibility. Parents are welcome to attend and celebrate with us! Our school improvement goals this year will align very closely with the TDSB’s Vision for Learning. Our mission is to create and maintain a school environment where student success is based on Equity, Achievement and Well-being. We welcome parent/community input as we shape our vision in these areas.

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LUNCH TIME at Islington JMS JK/SK-B Room 3 Varsha Koneri/Dina Guzova JK/SK-C Room 2 Tanya Galluzzo/ Silvina Machulec JK/SK-D Room 4 Heather Heanning/Sue Ieriti FSK-A Room 8 Xuan Hue Vuong/ Khaddouji Kotb FSK-B Room 1 Katya Teixeira, C/ Pasqal Fulginiti FI1 Room 5-2 Vicky Simard FI2 Room 9-4 Mamadou Sanogo 1 Room 5-3 Joan Kim 1/2 Room 5-4 Tracy Caudle 2/3 Room 9-1 Jennifer Chang 3 Room 9-2 Mary Lou Morgan 3/4 Room 9-3 Lois Gadway 4 Room 10 Deborah Welsh 5 Room 19-2 Tsetan Dolma 5/6 Room 19-3 Lisbeth Paisley-Smith 6A Room 17 David Zayachkowski 7 Room 16 Phil Trigiani 7/8 Room 19-4 Lori Pidgeon 7/8A Room 15 Lidia, Kyprianou 8 Room 20 Dalia Mukherjee ISP-Autism Room 18 Stephanie Porteous/Brandy Horvat Leap Rm.5-5 Ann Woomart Leap-A Rm.9-5 Janet McCarrol-Spiers Prep./Resource/STEAM Rm 11 Greg Karout Jr French/Music Rm 14 Maria Giannantonio Int French/ESL res. Rm 19-1 Ana Marinovic Music/IMI Band Rm 12 Library Library Angela Sakkalis Jr.Sr ESL Cong. Rm 19-1 Ana Marinovic Jr.Sr. HSP/Resource Rm 19-5 Netta Stambolic MART/Sp. Ed. Rm 1 Angela Sakkalis Guidance Rm 6-1 Leigh Doucet Reading Recovery/Prep Rm 6-2 Lata Iyer Phys. Ed Girls Office Monika Watters Phys. Ed/Res Boys Office Ana Jimenez Instrumental Music Sml/lrg lunchrm Early Childhood Educators (ECE) Kamilia Seredocha, Dina Guzova,Sue Ieriti, Silvana

Machulec, Pasqal Fulginiti Khaddouji Kotb Educational Assistant (EA) Sujata Bhatia, S.N.A. Janet Rait Caretakers Alex Grech, Gladys Fleet, Elizabeta Malkowsua Lunchroom Fadwa Ghanem, Ms. Mahadale, M. Bahrani, Danielle

Lacivita Lunchroom KDG Ye Yang, H. Khatun, S. Salman, I. Jahan, TBA Settlement Worker Warda Abdulsamed Rm 19-6 Parenting Centre Beth Hunter

Principal Rocco Coluccio

Upon student and community

request, Islington JMS will once

again host weekly pizza lunches

this year. See your child’s

agenda for the pizza lunch form

with order details.

The pizza lunch dates for the

September - December term are:

October 5, 12, 19, 26

November 2, 9, 16, 23, 30

December 7, 14, 21

PIZZA LUNCHES! Get your order in

now!

ACKNOWLEDGING ABORIGINAL LANDS AT ISLINGTON JMS

In June of 2016, the TDSB approved a motion that all schools in the Toronto District School Board will acknowledge the ancestral lands/territories at the beginning of each school day. If you happen to be in our building at 9:00am on any morning, you will hear the following on the announcements:

“We here at Islington JMS would like to acknowledge that this school is situated upon traditional territories. The territories include the Wendat, Anishinabek Nation, The Haudenosaunee

Confederacy, the Mississaugas of the New Credit, and the Métis Nation. The treaty that was signed for this particular parcel of land is collectively referred to as the Toronto Purchase and applies to lands east of Brown’s Line to Woodbine Avenue. We also recognize the enduring presence of Aboriginal peoples on this land”. You can view a map showing all of the treaties in Ontario at this website: https://www.ontario.ca/aboriginal/treaties

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STUDENT PARLIAMENT The Student Parliament election was held at our school on Thursday, September 29th. Eight students from Grade 8 ran for the Prime Minister candidate. Each candidate showcased their talents as future leaders and campaigned for a week through their posters and slogans during our morning announcements. Grades 6, 7 and 8 students selected their new leader for the upcoming school year by casting their ballots. We are proud of each of the candidates who ran for the position and congratulate them all. The Prime Minister elected for this school year is, Lesley Pan and Deputy Prime Minister is MohamedAbdalla. We wish you all the best as true leaders.

October 2016

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All parents of Islington JMS

children are encouraged to

attend the monthly SAC

meetings. The SAC is made

up of 15 voting members. If

you are interested in self-

nominating for a position,

please see the steps below:

SAC News School Advisory Council

Return the form to the school office by October 13th at 4:00pm.

Fill out a nomination form – given to your child on Monday October 3rd, declaring your candidacy for an elected position as a parent/guardian representative on the school council

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Next council meeting will be held on October 17th at 6:30 and this is when elections will be held.

TEACHING AND LEARNING AT ISLINGTON JUNIOR MIDDLE SCHOOL

Science Technology Engineering Arts Math (STEAM)

What is STEAM? An approach to inquiry and problem-based learning that fosters collaboration, creativity and innovation.

Why are we doing it at Islington JMS? To prepare students to participate in a rapidly changing, technological and interconnected world, with the skills they will need to adapt, evolve and meet with success.

How are we doing it? In order to promote this inquiry-based approach in our school, we have revamped our old Design and Technology lab, now a Maker Space. Our students work in the lab on a regular basis, to design, build and test projects connected to the Science Technology Engineering Arts and Math curriculums. One STEAM teacher assigned specifically to this position, works in collaboration with all of our teachers (by co-teaching and co-planning) to ensure that all of our students benefit from this exciting, transformative approach to teaching and learning. Ask your child about the projects he/she is working on and about the learning they engage in throughout the process!

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Islington JMS Newsletter October 2016

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HIGH SCHOOL INFORMATION NIGHT

Join us on October 19 in the library for our annual Choices for Nine information evening with our Guidance Counsellor, Leigh Doucet. The session will begin promptly at 6:30pm – 8:30pm. **Note: If you are unable to attend this evening, please be sure to attend the information nights of interest to you. These nights can be found on the TDSB website or in the “Choices for Nine” brochure.

HELP US KEEP AN ECO-FRIENDLY SCHOOL! Our Eco Club is up and running! We have also installed a water bottle refillable station on our first floor for students to fill their water bottles throughout the day. Three ways that you can help our school continue to be eco-friendly are:

Pack a Litterless Lunch! Aim to pack a lunch that produces no garbage. Why? It is healthier It costs less

It helps the Earth by reducing waste

Food for Thought: The average student lunch generates 30 kg of waste each year. That adds about 8500 kg of waste per school!

Walk or cycle to school... ... and if you do drive, carpool and do not let your car idle! Why? It is better for you

It is better for the environment Food for Thought: Many experts recommend that children spend at least one hour outside each day to ensure that they adopt active, healthy lifestyles.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! Why? Reducing, reusing and recycling are simple actions that students, parents, and staff can participate in to make a difference. Food for Thought: Every step in a product's "life cycle" requires energy, from extracting the raw materials, to manufacturing, shipping and disposing of it. When you reduce your use of materials, you also avoid energy use along the way. Fossil-fuel energy not used somewhere in that cycle - due to your reducing, reusing or recycling - means fewer climate change gases are produced!

44 Cordova Avenue

Follow us on Twitter: tdsb_islington

Website: http://schoolweb.tdsb.on.ca/islington/Home.asppx

Main Office – 416-394-7870

Student Absent Line (24 hours) – 416-394-7874

We welcome community members who would like to coach

any of our Islington JMS sports teams. Please see our school

office for information on the Police Reference Check process.

The TDSB is holding training sessions in November for

interested candidates. Please see the dates and locations

below that are most convenient for you. Note that you only

have to attend one of the four.

November 16th at Hilltop PS at 4:30pm

November 17th at Cummer Valley PS at 4:30pm

November 22nd at Westwood MS at 4:30pm

November 24th at 140 Borough at 4:30pm

Community COACHES

Islington Junior Middle

School

Principal: Rocco Coluccio

Vice Principal: Simona Emiliani Superintendent: Tracy Hayhurst

Trustee: Pamela Gough Chair: Jeff Dick

Co-Chair: Surer Osoble

UPCOMING DATES AND EVENTS

Event Date

PA Day (no school) October 7, 2016

Thanksgiving Day (no school)

October 10, 2016

Photo Day October 12, 2016

Choice for Nine Evening October 19, 2016

Student of the Month October 28, 2016

French Immersion Info Night November 16, 2016