Dates to Remember:

14 – Canada is for Kids Concert 16 – Open House 17 – Graduation 21 – Wizard of Oz performance 24 – Summer Jam 29 – Last day of School 30 – PA Day – No School

September 6 - First Day of school for the students

June, 2016

Dear Parents,

We have reached the end of an amazing year. It is only possible because of the energetic, genuine care, and hard work of our staff and the unswerving support of our parents. Our support staff weave together all the intricate strengths and needs of our students and support them in their everyday development. We have an unmatchable group of talented support staff that are such an essential part of our education team. Together, as a community, we have been able to charter some new “firsts” this year! Under Gloria’s leadership, we put together the first ever Park Lane School Play – The Wizard of Oz with the integration of the Bedford Park students. We hope to build on our integration programs in the theatre arts for next year. Our integration program this year with Bedford Park expanded to include 4 classes and Life Skills, the classroom, dance and the Music programs. We would like to thank Donna Patterson at Bedford Park for being the liaison and coordinating so seamlessly with Gloria to make this program a great success.

Our partnership with Earl Haig Secondary School Media/ Film department continued for the second year. This year, our students were featured in a photo art exhibit in a downtown gallery, that is now beautifully hung in our hallways at Park Lane. Also, for the first time, a short documentary is being produced to highlight our graduate students and their families under the direction of Katherine Yamashita. We have expanded our website this year to include all of the Camps, Community Programs, Respite information and other helpful workshops for parents. There is also information on preparing for the Post-21 process with DSO. Thanks to Anju for facilitating the website information all year, we hope you have found it useful. We have partnered with other congregated schools like Sunny View and William J. Mc Cordic for joint fundraising and parent conferences to discuss important issues of community programming for our students after graduation. We thank you for your support and continuing to be engaged in these crucial conversations. Assistive Technology has been a focus for Park Lane this year, and under the leadership of Tony, our vice-principal, our students and staff have been able to make use of more switches, Interactive White Boards and the Eye Gaze Technology. Most of our classrooms now have access to an Interactive White Board. We were able to kick start a brand new Nutrition Program at Park Lane this year. Under the leadership of Ruth and Dave, and with the financial support of our parents and the Toronto Foundation for Student Success, our program integrates the teaching and learning of Healthy Eating along with essential Life Skills for our students. The students are active in preparing and delivering the mid-morning meals to the rest of our school. The unique engaging nature of our program has piqued the interest in other sites with special needs to involve the students in their programs. Amongst all the wonderful arts, music, cultural, science and outdoor education activities, our Eco Team under Paula, Dave and Meera worked extremely hard to challenge our school to higher standards of Eco Literacy, conservation, recycling and greening. As a result of several audits by the TDSB EcoSchools Program – Park Lane was awarded the Platinum Status this year! Congratulations to everyone for all the team work and hard work all year! We have a truly unbeatable community at Park Lane! I wish you all a relaxing and refreshing summer and look forward to seeing you in September.

Esther

60 Park Lane Circle, M3C 2N2

Tel: 416 395-8525 Fax: 416 395-8737 Esther Leung Tou, Principal, Tony Gentile, Vice Principal

http://schools.tdsb.on.ca/parklane

JEWISH HERITAGE - 2016! (Gloria G.)

What better way to celebrate Jewish Heritage Month than with a story, singing and folkdancing! On Friday, May 13th, Park Lane students gathered in the gym to be part of an interactive story called, “Something from Nothing.” The staff performed the speaking parts while the students assisted in the telling, using

various percussion instruments. There were drums, maracas, xylophones, metallophones, glockenspiels, bells, triangles,

rainsticks, stir xylophones, claves, and cymbals! We were fortunate to have Bedford Park students arrive on that day (our Integration partners) and they played musical instruments as well. Allan,

one of our students, played the part of the young boy and was able to say the words to complete a repetitive sentence, given a verbal prompt!

Following the story, Ellen, a guest musician, played Hebrew and English songs on her guitar. One of the songs was sung by the audience, as the staff and students had learned it at the piano, during music appreciation. Cindy and Gloria played a song from the Broadway musical, “Fiddler on the Roof,” on the flute and piano. The last item on the program was a traditional folk dance – the original dance was performed by staff, followed by an adapted version for students in wheelchairs.

There is nothing more enjoyable than learning about one’s culture through the Art

“Canada in My Pocket” (Gloria G.)

What a fun way to celebrate Canada Day – with a composer, singer and storyteller coming to Park Lane: Michael Mitchell is his name and he was here, with guitar in hand, on June 14th! Dressed in red and white, Canada’s colours, we proudly sang a variety of songs in honour of our wonderful country! We were pleased to have invited all three classes

from Bedford Park, our Integration

Partners.

Park Lane students were familiar with the songs in the concert as we had the songsheets and the music beforehand (some songs were sung at the piano during music appreciation). It was great to pay tribute to our wonderful country, singing songs about the various provinces! The Canadian music was upbeat and the some of our students enjoyed dancing to the beat!

A special “thank you” goes to Nasrin, a Park Lane parent, who co-sponsored this concert with a generous donation, in memory of her son, Jamshid. It was much appreciated!

“The Wizard of Oz” (Gloria G.) It was a quite the journey to go the Land of Oz as the students from Park Lane and Bedford Park worked in parallel to present the musical, “The Wizard of Oz.” On June 21st, the Park Lane students presented a musical interpretation of the show, featuring percussion instruments, gross motor actions and circle dances while the Bedford Park kids presented their narrative skills to tell the story. With visual props on the stage and magnificent costumes to showcase the characters, Park Lane kids were part of our

interactive performance (with the audience), as each class appeared on stage. A very special “thank you” goes to Maria, who did the face makeup on two of our character actors, Toto the Dog, and the Cowardly Lion.

Graduation (Vicki A.) On Friday June 17th, 2016 Park Lane honoured our 2016 Graduates, with a heart-warming ceremony and reception. Family & friends gathered and commemorated alongside the staff and students, while paying tribute through many thoughtful speeches & tear-jerking photo/video presentations. Trustee Gerri Gershon & MP Rob Oliphant also joined us and both presented their own tributes to our graduates. It was very special to have them with us and we thank them for all their kind words. We wish all our 2016 Graduates all the best moving forward. Good Luck!

Asian Heritage (Anju P.) Park Lane has celebrated Asian Heritage; this year’s theme was to represent Sri Lankan culture, traditions and geography through video, food and arts and crafts activities. In the morning we had different centres e.g. Henna, Arts and crafts, Asian Attire Dressing Centre, Music, Movie Centre and Cooking Centre. Students went from one centre to another and interacted in a variety of activities. At the cooking centre, students cooked and tasted Dosa and Sāmbhar, a south Indian dish that was led by one of the staff in Room 9, Jonita Emmanuel.

At the dressing centre, staff dressed students in the Asian Attire and took pictures, led by Room 2 and 10.Room 5 and 6 led the henna centre where staff applied Henna on students. A big Thanks to our Volunteers, Samara, one of our staff, Seema’s daughter who came and helped our staff and students. In the afternoon we prepared a skit based on a Hindu Wedding that involves dance and drama activities. Students and staff dressed in Indian attire and participated in the Indian wedding drama.

Room 9

Room 9 staff – Judy, Dave, Sharon, Kathryn, Jonita, Sherine

Favourite Activity: Our morning walks. It gives our students and staff some morning fresh air and exercise. Research suggests that daily physical activity stimulates and calms the brain, allowing for clearer thinking and concentration.

Favourite Event: Our school wide event in early May. We held relay races in the gym, dancing with DJ Sheldon in the Open Area, science outside exploding Mentos in Coke, and then topped off the day with a staff tug-o-war! Everyone had fun and the weather was wonderful for our outside activities.

Life Skills: Our class is focused on life skill development, to maximize the independence of our students. Some of the activities we did this year were:

• Spreading mulch around trees • Making a sleeping mat out of milk bags • Cleaning windows • Science experiments – magnetism, chemical reactions, air pressure • Library book collection and delivery • Cooking • Green bin pick-up

Summer Jam (Paula B.)

On a beautiful sunny day the children from Park Lane travelled the world within our school. This was our theme for our summer jam event. There were six countries; India, Canada, Caribbean Islands, Philippines, Djibouti, and China. For each country the students were immersed in sensory activities related to each country for example, tasting Jazmine tea from China, feeling the fur from Northern Canada, smelling spices from India, planting the seeds from Djovita and playing the games from The Islands and Philippines. All the students enjoyed receiving stamps for their passports from each centre.

A big thanks to Shawn from the Advanced Taxidermy for donating his real fur, Caribou and White tailed deer. The students and staff enjoyed the touching and draping of the real fur around their bodies. We ended our day with dances from Israel and Greece. It was fun for everyone.

Room 8

"The Big Guys"Staff:

Hibo, Sugal, Sheldon Dixon, Portia Benjamin, Stacey Coxworth, Chantel Wilson, David Johnstone

Our program: emphasizing the development of functional academic skills (e.g. communication, socialization and daily living skills) and alternative programming which develops daily living skills and personal care skills. Our focus is in providing the support required to foster independence in our students while promoting safety awareness in school and the community.

Favourite Outings: Ashbridges Bay, Swiss Chalet, Swimming

Favourite Activities: Community Walks, Cooking and School Dances.

Nicole Hilton

(Gym Teacher)

Over the course of this year, the students at Park Lane had many opportunities to participate in a variety of sporting activities. One favourite amongst most of the students was volleyball. Students got to use a beach ball and/or balloons and learned how to serve and return a beach ball over the net by volleying. Students and staff alike had fun playing mini volleyball games and some students could even return a ball over the net multiple times.

A Big Thank You to Our Community Sponsors!

Many activities in our school would not be possible without the unswerving support of

our community friends and businesses

Richard Wakileh

Wagon Wheel Restaurant

-

WhiteHouse

Meats

Shawn from the Advanced Taxidermy for donating his real

fur, Caribou and White tailed deer for

our Summer Jam Activities

Joann Guest & Montana

For donating a BBQ to Park Lane School

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts

for the generous donation to help support

the Arts at Park Lane!