February 4th, 2024

Dear Families/Guardians,
Happy February everyone! Here are your reminders and updates for this coming week as you head into a new week.

Reminders:

1. Winter Walk Day is on Wednesday, February 7 but in case of inclement weather, it will be February 14th. Please encourage your children to walk to school if they can and if you do drive your children, consider dropping them off at a friends so they can walk to school with them. Or, consider parking on a local street and walking a short distance with them to school. Walking is great exercise, helps students be more alert at school, builds community, creates friendships and allows individuals to explore the wonderful neighbourhoods. Let’s get as many Franklin Falcons as we can walking that day! #WinterWalkDay or #WWD2024

2. Report cards will be going out to families on Friday February 16. Please remember that looking at report cards is a great starting point for children and parents to have a conversation on what needs to improve and the steps they can take to do this. The report card comments will, as per the Growing Success document – https://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/policyfunding/growSuccess.pdf- describe significant strengths that a child demonstrates, identify next steps for improvement and can describe growth in learning. Remember as well, if you have any questions, to reach out to your child’s teacher.

For grade 1 parents, please note that Visual Arts was taught in French.

3. Please help us by reminding your children that joining into negative talk or going back and forth with name calling or inappropriate words/actions, does not help stop a situation and will probably escalate it. We continue to have students tell a person to stop, walk away (or use another Tool for Life strategy) and see a teacher after that if a peer is not listening. Often, it does not stop, as the name calling or inappropriate behaviour is going back and forth and then in some cases, escalates to hands on.

4. If you have children entering Kindergarten next year, please register them as soon as you can. Accurate numbers this year, prevents chaos and class re-structuring next year.

Updates:

1. February 19th – third Monday of February is the Family Day long weekend. There is NO school for students on that day.

2. Please watch for an email from the main office regarding forms that need attention on School-Day. You will only get it if it is applicable to you.

3. Attendance letters will be going home in the next week or two if your child has missed a lot of school days. We know that absences impact academic performance, peer relationships and long term outcomes, but we do understand that if absences are due to illnesses, it cannot be helped as a child’s first and foremost.

4. There is a 3 part learning series for using Google Assistive Technology Tools for Organization.

Part One: Share

Learn about digital tools that can help your child share learning goals and homework tasks with you.

Monday, February 5, 2024 from 12 to 12:30 p.m. (https://meet.google.com/uit-prdv-ihf)

Part Two: Plan

Learn about digital tools that can help your child plan out tasks and manage their time.

Tuesday, February 13, 2024 from 11:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. (https://meet.google.com/sgw-ijog-kmc)

Part Three: Organize

Learn about tools that can help your child organize their digital space.

Friday, February 23, 2024 from 12:30 to 1 p.m. (https://meet.google.com/hfb-ymah-rvv)

Simply join a Google Meet at the appropriate time to join the session you’d like to attend.

Please visit the following site for various language translations on this series. https://www-wrdsb-ca.translate.goog/blog/2024/01/31/dont-miss-it-assistive-technology-support-for-families-in-early-2024/?_x_tr_sl=en&_x_tr_tl=fr&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp

5. There is a community report card available to you and in different languages. You can find this at: https://www.wrdsb.ca/community/community-report-cards/2023-community-report-card/?utm_source=public&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=CRC23

6. Various families will be getting reminders if their childrens’ vaccination reports are not up to date. Please note that The Immunization of School Pupils Act (ISPA) – https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90i01- requires all elementary and secondary school students to have proof of these vaccinations or a valid exemption on file with Public Health – https://www.regionofwaterloo.ca/en/health-and-wellness/immunizations-and-vaccines.aspx. Initial notifications would have been sent out in November and December already via public health. “To book appointments, please contact your health care provider or a walk-in clinic for vaccine availability….For any family with questions or needing help: Visit Region of Waterloo Public Health to learn more and or Region of Waterloo Public Health at 519-575-4400, (TTY) call 519-575-4608. Interpreters are available in over 150 languages if you have questions.

Quote of the Week:

“The kids who need the most love will ask for it in the most unloving ways.” – Unknown Author