To all Huron parents/caregivers:

Please find below, and attached, a message from Toronto Public Health in regards to their dental screening program. Students will also receive a hard copy of this same information to bring home to you this week.

Dear Parent/Guardian: School Year 2016 – 2017

Toronto Public Health (T.P.H.) provides dental programs to children from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 8.

To identify children with oral health problems, a screening program is offered to students in accordance with the Ontario Ministry of Health requirements for mandatory health programs. The screening is an assessment by a dental hygienist using sterilized instruments. The dental hygienist will assess the need for topical fluoride, scaling, sealant and any other obvious dental needs.

As a follow up to the screening, only parents whose children are identified as requiring dental services will be notified. A note to that effect will be sent home with your child/ren for your information and action. You may also receive a phone call from T.P.H. dental staff to assist you in accessing care.

Please be advised that this screening assessment does not replace the dental examination done by a licensed dentist.

The dental screening dates for Huron Street Junior Public School will be on April 6, 7, 10 and April 11, 2017.

If you do not wish your child/ren to be screened, please inform the school.

For additional information, please contact us at the phone number listed above or visit us at http://www.toronto.ca/health/dental/children-youth.htm.

Dr. Hazel Stewart

Director

Dental and Oral Health Services

HURON MONTHLY EARTH HOUR

Our Earth Hour for March will be held on Friday March 31st, 2017, from 2:20-3:20pm. Our monthly Earth Hour is a special initiative at Huron, and it helps towards our Platinum certification as an ECO-School. On the last Friday of every month we turn off as many lights as safely possible and power-down and turn off as many electronics as we can in an effort to reduce our energy consumption. We encourage all Huron families to take on a similar initiatve at home as well.

FAMILY SKATE NIGHT

A reminder that this Friday – March 31st, 2017 – is our annual Family Skate Night at Varsity Arena. All Huron families are invited to come and join in this fantastic, family-fun, activity. The doors will open at Varsity Arena at 5:00pm and we have ice time from 5:30-7:00pm. Pizza and drinks will be available for sale too. Entrance is $5.00 per person (at the door) and all money raised goes to support Health and Physical Education and Athletics programs here at the school. All students must be accompanied by an adult, and everyone 12 years of age and younger must wear a helmet when on the ice. Please see the attached flier for more information.

PROLOGUE to the PERFORMING ARTS

We have our next Prologue performance coming up on Monday April 3rd – a special performance just for our Kindergarten classes. The performance will begin at approx. 9:15am – parents/caregivers of students in Kindergarten please feel free to join us this morning if you are available.

SIGHT AND SOUND CLINIC

As previously notified, we did receive the minimum number of required registrations so we will definitely be having the Sight and Sound Clinic here at Huron on Tuesday April 4th, 2017. If there are any more families who did not return the registration form but are still interested – additional forms are available in the school office.

TORONTO PUBLIC HEALTH – DENTAL SCREENING

Last week Huron families received an email notifying you about the Dental Screening, conducted by Toronto Public Health, that will be happening here at Huron from April 6th – 11th, 2017. A copy of that letter is also attached here. If you do not wish for your child(ren) to participate in the screening you must notify the school office (416-393-1570).

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PINK

Start planning what you’re going to wear now – Wednesday April 12th, 2017 is the International Day of Pink. Huron Street Jr. P.S. will be participating in International Day of Pink and all students are encouraged to wear something pink to school that day. The Day of Pink is the International day against bullying, discrimination, homophobia, transphobia, and transmisogyny across the world. For more information please go to: http://dayofpink.org/ Please join us in recognizing International Day of Pink and encourage others in our broader community to do the same.

Hello to everyone in our Huron Community:

Please plan to join us for our Annual Huron Family Skate Night being held on Friday March 31st, 2017, at Varsity Arena.

The doors will open at 5:00pm and pizza and drinks will be available for sale.

The ice will open at 5:30pm and we have ice time from 5:30-7:00pm.

All students must be supervised by an adult and everyone under the age of 12 years must wear a helmet on the ice.

Entrance is $5.00 per person at the door, and all proceeds go to support our school’s Health and Physical Education and Athletics Programs.

Again this year we are pleased to let you know that a Sight and Sound Clinic (Vision and Hearing screening) will be held here at the school. As previously notified, we have received the minimum number of registrations required so the clinic will definitely be happening.

The Toronto Foundation for Student Success (TFSS), a registered charitable foundation of TDSB, is offering a vision and hearing screening at Huron Street Jr. P.S.. The vision screening includes tests for visual acuity, colour blindness, depth perception and strabismus (eye turning in/out). The vision and hearing screenings are conducted by trained International Medical Graduates (IMG) and certified Communicative Disorder Assistants. A nominal fee is charged to cover the services administrative costs.

If a problem is detected at the screening, a note will be sent home to direct you to health care professionals for further evaluation, proper care and follow through.

The vision and hearing screening services are optional. If you are interested in having your child screened, please complete and sign registration form that all students took home before the March Break. Our vision and hearing screening is scheduled on Tuesday April 4th, 2017.

If you are interested and have not yet registered your child extra registration forms are available at the school office.

For your additional information, for children 19 years and below, OHIP covers the cost of the eye examination by the Optometrist once a year.

We hope that everyone had a happy, healthy, and fun March Break and we’ll see all students back at school on Monday, March 20th, 2017.

TDSB EARTH HOUR

TDSB Earth Hour 2017 is Friday, March 24th, and at Huron we will be participating from 2:20-3:20pm. TDSB Schools and offices are asked to go as electricity-free as possible for ONE HOUR. Wherever possible, our schools and offices will turn off all interior lighting except necessary emergency lights, and minimize fan use. In 2011, TDSB schools and offices decreased their electricity by 29.09%. Our highest yet, topping the 27.8% 2009 result! Can we do more this year? TDSB is holding their Earth Hour in advance of Global Earth Hour which is on Saturday March 25th, 2017 from 8:30-9:30pm local time. Check out the website for more information about this very important world-wide event: http://www.earthhour.org

HURON’S ANNUAL FAMILY SKATE NIGHT

Please plan to join us at our Annual Huron Family Skate Night being held on Friday March 31st, 2017, at Varsity Arena. Door will open at 5:00pm and we have ice time from 5:30-7:00pm. Entrance is $5.00 per person at the door, and pizza and drinks will also be available for sale. A reminder that all students must be accompanied by an adult and everyone 12 years of age and younger must wear a helmet on the ice. We have an enormous amount of fun at this popular family event – please plan to join us!

SIGHT AND SOUND CLINIC

The Sight and Sound Clinic scheduled to be at Huron on Tuesday April 4th, 2017 will be going ahead as planned. To all families who returned the registration form, we have received the minimum number of responses and the clinic will be happening.

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PINK

Start your wardrobe planning – Wednesday April 12th, 2017 is the International Day of Pink and everyone in our Huron community is encouraged to participate. The “Day of Pink” is the international day against bullying, discrimination, homophobia, transphobia and transmisogyny across the world. For more information check out: http://www.dayofpink.org

Hello to everyone in our Huron Community:

Please plan to join us for our Annual Huron Family Skate Night being held on Friday March 31st, 2017, at Varsity Arena.

The doors will open at 5:00pm and pizza and drinks will be available for sale.

The ice will open at 5:30pm and we have ice time from 5:30-7:00pm.

All students must be supervised by an adult and everyone under the age of 12 years must wear a helmet on the ice.

Entrance is $5.00 per person at the door, and all proceeds go to support our school’s Athletics Program.

Please see the attached flier for more information and we look forward to seeing you at this fun, family, annual event.

The Parents as Partners Conference 2017 is on Saturday, 1 April and all parents/caregivers are welcome!

This free conference – planned by parents, for parents – includes a variety of workshops (transitions, planning, special education, mental health and well-being, literacy and more!) and resources that will help any parent/caregiver support their child in their achievement and well-being at school and at home.

Transportation, childcare, food and translators are all provided.

Registration is open until 20 March 2017 http://www.parentsaspartners.ca Please see the attached flier for more information.

Again this year we are pleased to let you know that a Sight and Sound Clinic (Vision and Hearing screening) is planning to be held here at the school. Please see the attached fliers and below for more information.

Last week all students were given a hard copy of the registration form to take home, and extra copies are available at the school office. The deadline to return the form, if you would like your child to participate, is Friday March 10th, 2017. After March Break we will let you know if we have sufficient numbers for the clinic to run at Huron.

The Toronto Foundation for Student Success (TFSS), a registered charitable foundation of TDSB, is offering a vision and hearing screening at Huron Street Jr. P.S.. The vision screening includes tests for visual acuity, colour blindness, depth perception and strabismus (eye turning in/out). The vision and hearing screenings are conducted by trained International Medical Graduates (IMG) and certified Communicative Disorder Assistants. A nominal fee is charged to cover the services administrative costs.

If a problem is detected at the screening, a note will be sent home to direct you to health care professionals for further evaluation, proper care and follow through.

The vision and hearing screening services are optional. If you are interested in having your child screened, please complete and sign registration form (all students took home a copy last week) and return it to school by Friday March 10th, 2017. Please note that for a clinic to run at the school, a minimum of 25 students registered is required. Pending the required number of registered students, our vision and hearing screening is scheduled on Tuesday April 4th, 2017. Extra copies of the registration form are available at the school office.

For your additional information, for children 19 years and below, OHIP covers the cost of the eye examination by the Optometrist once a year.

The Dance-A-Thon is coming up this Thursday, March 9th, 2017

It is a great chance for students, staff members and parents/caregivers to dance away the winter blues.

But it is also a very important fundraising event for our school. This is our 3rd year of a 5 year commitment to dedicate Dance-A-Thon funds to augment and replace aging school technology and to help support all Huron students with their learning of Media Literacy.

Please check your children’s backpacks for pledge forms (students received their pledge-a-lopes to take home last week) and send them back this week to make a lasting difference in your child’s education.

And don’t forget to come dance! Your child’s teacher can tell you when your son/daughter is participating.

Thanks to everyone for your support,

From School Council Fundraising

AFRICAN HERITAGE MONTH CELEBRATION ASSEMBLY

We will be having our African Heritage Month Celebration Assembly on Wednesday March 8th, and we hope to get things started at about 10:45am. Various classes and performing groups have been working hard to prepare these past few weeks and are very eager to perform. If your schedule permits, please come and join us.

DANCE-A-THON

Huron’s annual, fundraiser, DANCE-A-THON will be happening on Thursday March 9th. All classes, Kindergarten to Grade 6, will be involved and parents/caregivers are very welcome to come and spend some time dancing as well. Please check with your child’s teacher about when their class is scheduled to be in the gym.

Today all students received a “Pledge-A-Lope” for their pledges and donations to our DANCE-A-THON. Please note that donations of $25.00 or more, in cheque form only, are eligible for a tax receipt with a complete address provided.

THE GREAT BIG CRUNCH

March 9th, 2017 marks the 10th Anniversary of the Great Big Crunch. We hope you’ll crunch with us at 2:30pm. Since 2008, over 900,000 people have joined us for the Great Big Crunch, an annual moment where everyone gets together and bites into crunchy fresh local produce in unison. The symphony is loud, whether you munch on apples or carrots. From coast to coast to coast, celebrate and enjoy healthy snacking with your class, colleagues or friends. Using vegetables and fruits as stars in recipes and fun activities will make you cherish the local bounty around us all. Huron will be receiving fresh apples for all classes participating and an announcement will signal our Great Big Crunch at 2:30pm. For more information check out: http://foodshare.net/program/crunch/

DONATIONS FOR THE HOMELESS

Thank you to everyone who has already donated new or gently used hats, scarves and mittens/gloves for our local homeless individuals. Some of the donations have already been distributed and been very gratefully received – especially with the rainy and cold temperatures we’ve had lately. There is a bin in the front foyer of the school if anyone else would like to donate – and we will continue to accept donations until Friday March 10th.

LOST AND FOUND

Again our Lost and Found structure in the front foyer is full and overflowing – you can find just about every imaginable item of clothing as well as water bottles, lunch bags, and umbrellas. All items in Lost and Found will be donated to charity during March Break, and our Lost and Found will be empty when we return! Please make sure you check Lost and Found regularly this week and take home all items that belong to you.

MARCH BREAK HOLIDAY

We would like to wish everyone in our Huron Community a happy, healthy, and relaxing March Break. A reminder that the school will be closed from March 13th – March 17th, 2017 inclusive. We’ll see everyone back at school again on Monday March 20th, 2017.

HURON FAMILY SKATE NIGHT

Mark your calendars – we are planning to have our annual Huron Family Skate Night on Friday March 31st, 2017 at Varsity Stadium. More information will be coming soon with specific information – and timing will likely be 5:00-7:00pm.