Southside Public School June 2020

Message from the Administration

Welcome to June everyone!

It is amazing to see the warmer temperatures and all the sunshine!! We hope our families have been able to enjoy this lovely weather

As we move into June, we are starting to wrap up our current school year and get our planning done for next year. At this point we do not know what September will look like for sure, but whatever it is, we will work as a team to support our students and our families in their learning and well-being.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to us at the school phone number, or by email if you need anything. It is expected that we will have office staff in the building on most days in June.

All the best,

Mrs. Langford and Mrs. Fox

***Please read below for important information you will need for the upcoming month.

Report Cards - What you need to know:

All students will be receiving report cards through the TVDSB Parent Portal. If you require a hard copy of your child’s report card, please contact the school and this will be mailed to you. Report cards will be posted on June 24th this year. The grades that are provided on the report card is reflective of student progress from January 31, 2020 until March 13, 2020, unless improvements in achievement during distance learning from March 23, 2020 until the end of school are noted. That means that the independent work that students have completed during distance learning can increase their mark, but lack of progress or lack of engagement in distance learning will not decrease their mark as of March 13, 2020.

In addition to report cards, the board has developed a protocol for families to stop by the school to pick up their child’s belongings.

Student Belongings - Here is what you need to know for pick up:

Pick up of belongings will be done by class and families will be assigned a half day time slot to come to the school and retrieve their child’s belongings. Safe distancing protocols will be in place and curbside pick

School newsletters and important information will be posted to our website and sent home through School Messenger directly to your home email address.

Principal: Mrs. K. Langford Phone: 519-539-1131Vice Principal: Mrs. D. Fox Fax: 519-539-1193Superintendent: Ms. K. Edgar School Messenger: 1-844-305-3756Trustees: Mr. B. McKinnon, Mrs. B. YeomanWebsite: https://southside.tvdsb.ca/en/index.aspx

Principal: Karen Langford, Vice Principal: TimWillick

up will only be available. Staff will be reaching out by phone and email to ensure all our families are made aware.

Please see the table below for your pick up time.Date Time ClassesMonday, June 8 9-12 pm FDK A and B (Faris and Kernohan,

Tremblay and Shea)Monday June 8 1 – 4 pm FDK C and gr. 1A (Redigonda and

Brooks, VanDerWyngaard)Tues. June 9 9–12 pm Gr. 1B and gr.2 (Bowes and

Bailey)Tues. June 9 1 – 4 pm Gr. 2/3 and gr. 3 (Hammond and

VanRompaey)Wed. June 10 9–12 pm Gr. 3/4 and gr. 4/5 (Linfield and

Hicks)Wed. June 10 1 – 4 pm Gr. 5 and gr. 5/6 (Wright and

Buisman)Thurs. June 11 9–12 pm Gr. 6 and gr. 6/7 (Marks and

Perry)Thurs. June 11 1 – 4 pm Gr. 7/8 A and B (Knoflook and

D’Hollander)

Staff changes for next yearWe are in the midst of making changes in our staff for next year. At this point, we have three departing staff members.Unfortunately, we lost our English as a Second Language (ESL) Teacher allocation (although our ESL students will still receive extra support from an Itinerant ESL teacher). This means that our overall number of teachers has had to decrease by 0.2 for next year. We have also been decreased in our number of Educational Assistants in our building who provide support to our students with special needs. We therefore have to say good-bye to Monica Thomson.

Mrs. Thomson was a positive, contributing member of our special education team for two years and she will be missed! We wish you all the best at your new school, Mrs. Thomson!

Also leaving our school this year is Mrs. Knoflook who teaches one of our grade 7/8 classes. She will be heading to a new school in Tillsonburg. Mrs. Knoflook was a valuable part of our Southside team, involved in coaching and math leadership, and she will be missed greatly. All the best to you in your next teaching adventure, Mrs. K.!

Lastly, we will need to say good-bye to Mrs. Fox, our VP as she is heading to Thamesford PS as the new Acting Principal there! Congratulations, Mrs. Fox, on your promotion! We know that you were at Southside for

only a short time, but we have enjoyed having you here! We will miss you and we wish you all the best at your new school! We welcome Mrs. Elisabeth Kaufmann as our new Vice Principal to Southside. She comes with a wealth of experience and is looking forward to joining our team!

Because of these departures this year, we are in the midst of the staffing process and working on hiring a .4 intermediate teacher for Southside. Stay tuned for more information on this at the end of the school year.

In addition to our permanent staff leaving, we have to thank two special individuals, Mr. Buisman and Mrs. Morris who worked in Long Term Occasional positions in our school this year! Mr. Buisman covered for Mr. Wiedermann and Mrs. Morris covered for Mrs. Tryon. Thank you to both of you for all your contributions to our school and for teaching our Southside students! We wish you all the best and perhaps we will see you back at Southside!

Southside Announcements Thanks to our new Learning Commons teacher, Ms. Morris, Morning Announcements are now available every school day. Homeroom teachers are posting a link in your student’s Google Classroom. Students are invited to listen everyday to hear school news and they are invited to email Ms. Morris jokes that she can share with the school. Ms. Morris has also created a Virtual Learning Commons for students to explore. On this page there are links to awesome Virtual Classrooms with activities and books for students to explore. Click on this link to access it: Virtual Learning Commons .

Principal: Karen Langford, Vice Principal: TimWillick

Southside Talent Show Please click on the link in blue to see information about our Virtual Talent Show.  TALENT SHOW Please submit videos to p.morris@tvdsb.ca or use the online form by June 3rd. 

LEXIA Reading Programs

The TVDSB Special Education Department is pleased to share that our Board has reached an agreement with Greenfield Learning and Lexia Reading, so that we may provide all of our elementary students with free access to Lexia®Core5®Reading and Lexia®PowerUp Literacy® until the end of July 2020.

Lexia®Core5®Reading is an engaging web-based program that has been used by many Kindergarten to Grade 5 students in our Board. The activities in Core5® support and build on our classroom curriculum while developing reading skills in six areas: phonological awareness, phonics, structural analysis, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.Lexia®PowerUp Literacy® is a web-based program that tailors instruction to students in Grade 6-12 based on their specific needs. The activities in

PowerUp Literacy® support and build on our English language arts classroom curriculum, developing skills in three areas essential to becoming a proficient reader: word study, grammar, and comprehension.

GAS INTO GROCERIES fundraiser for school staff to support United Way Oxford!

We all know what a critical role United Way Oxford (UWO) plays to support our most vulnerable families. Many of our students depend on our school nutrition programs, and, with the school closures, are missing the snacks/meals that we serve. In response, UWO has developed the Food for Families program and is providing grocery gift cards and fresh produce, worth over $5600 each week, to families who are struggling with food insecurity.

The Southside staff participated in the fundraiser that ran from May 13 - May 22. Every dollar raised through the Gas into Groceries initiative will be directed to the Food for Families fund to ensure that families in our schools continue receiving the support they need during this crisis.

United Way Oxford has many resources and supports for those impacted by COVID-19. Please click on the link below to see the list of resources they have.

https://unitedwayoxford.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/UW-Oxford-Services-and-Supports-Listing.pdf

June Spirit Days

June 3 Hat dayJune 10 Mismatch dayJune 17 Blue and Yellow/Spirit WearJune 24 Canada Day

ADDITIONAL DATES TO REMEMBER

June 3 Talent Show Entries due in to Mrs. Morris

June 24 Reports go home, IEPs go homeJune 26 Last day of school

Principal: Karen Langford, Vice Principal: TimWillick

Have a great month!