Dear Parents,
New Physical Education Teacher
I am delighted to introduce you to our new Physical Education Teacher, Jessica Ray Willett. Jessica Ray comes with many impressive experiences, including teaching Phys Ed at a local independent school, supply teaching (K-grade 8), coaching, and organizing training and group events for the City of Toronto Summer Camps Program. She received her Masters of Teaching in Health and Physical Education at OISE, University of Toronto. The hiring committee was impressed with Jessica Ray's knowledge, skills, enthusiasm, and passion for physical education and student learning. Jessica Ray has begun working at JICS today and tomorrow will assist in the Boys’ Basketball (TDSB) Tournament which will be held in our very own gym!
I want to take this opportunity to thank Tory McCracken, our in-house supply teacher and administrative assistant, for her excellent work in the gym since January.
School Closures
I want to thank everyone for your quick response to the school and daycare closure yesterday. As you know, the Lab School closes or opens dependent on the status of the University of Toronto, St. George Campus. Yesterday at 2:13 pm, we received a UofT Alert that the campus would be closing at 3:00pm. We sent out the blog notice and tweeted this information at 2:16 pm. We are sorry for the short notice. If you are interested in receiving the UofT Alerts, see here to register. You can also always access closure and opening information (as I did this morning at 6:30am) at https://www.utoronto.ca/campus-status. Please remember that if the University of Toronto St. George Campus is open, we are open. If it is closed, we are closed. Thanks for your understanding.
JICS Alumni Panel
We have nine Grade 11 and Grade 12 JICS graduates who are eager to answer your questions about “Life After Jackman ICS”. They represent different senior and high schools and will speak about their transition. This event will take place on Tuesday, February 12, following the 6:00 Parents’ Association Meeting in Room 363. Free babysitting is available. Please register here.
Author Visit: Eric Walters
Author Eric Walters will be sharing the inspiration behind his many stories with Grades 2-6 at 1:30 on Thursday, February 14, 2019. He is happy to sign books for students after his presentation. If your child is interested, please send them with books to be signed. There may also be a selection of books available for sale.
From Eric Walter’s website: http://www.ericwalters.net/
“It all began in 1993 when Eric was teaching a Grade 5 class. His students were reluctant readers and writers and Eric began to write to encourage them to become more involved in literature. His first novel, Stand Your Ground, was created for this class. It is set in the school where Eric was teaching, Vista Heights Public School, and some of the features of the community of Streetsville and many of the names of his students were incorporated into the story. Since his first novel Eric has exploded on the children’s and young adult scene. Over the following years he has published over 94 more novels and picture books with more than ten scheduled for the coming years.”
Thanks for supporting the author visits through the Library Fundraisers!
Krista, Teacher Librarian
Lunar New Year
Gong hei fat choy! Thank you to the many parent volunteers and to our wonderful JK teacher-assistant, Cecilia, for sharing your culture with everyone. The school smelled incredible with the delicious food that was prepared and enjoyed. The school is beautifully decorated with lanterns and cherry blossoms made by children for Lunar New Year celebrations. Thank you for helping us work towards our mission: excellence in childhood education, teacher education, and research in a culturally and economically diverse environment.
All the best,
Richard
Richard Messina | Principal
Dr. Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study Laboratory School
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education | University of Toronto
416-934-4509 | richard.messina@utoronto.ca
twitter: @JackmanICS | @richardmessina2 | @NaturlCuriosity
