Topics covered in this post:
1. Meeting for Parents of BIPOC Children at JICS
Monday, December 5, 2022 at 7pm
Created by JICS parents for JICS parents, this meeting is designed for conversation and advocacy for families at JICS with BIPOC children.
The focus of this meeting is to discuss how the JICS BIPOC parents can help the teachers to deliver messages regarding equality and hero, and to help with the school's cultural celebrations.
Save the date: Monday, December 5, 7-8:30 pm, location: Zoom or In person to be finalized
2. Tuition Support Fund
Dr. Eric Jackman is generously supporting economic diversity by matching up to $20,000 of your donations between now and Giving Tuesday, November 29th.
Your support of the Diana Rankin Muncaster Family Tuition Support Fund is allowing us to retain families in financial need and accept new families who would otherwise not be able to have their child attend the JICS Lab School. Our requests for financial support for next year from current JICS families has never been greater. Thank you for your gift.
Please donate online or by cheque payable to The University of Toronto (memo line: DRMF Tuition Support).
All donations automatically receive an electronic receipt, issued in the name of the credit card holder or information provided on the cheque.
3. Wednesday Afternoon Program: Winter Term
The final day of the Fall Term Wednesday Afternoon Program is Wednesday, November 30.
The first day of the Winter Term is the following Wednesday, December 7. The Winter Term Wednesday Program will run until March 8, 2023. Registration is now open.
The Wednesday Program is committed to providing a spot for all children who wish to register, but we cannot guarantee each child their first choice. All enquiries should be directed to Sarah at sarah.murray@utoronto.ca.
Cheques are due to Shama in the School Office after completing registration by Wednesday, November 30.
4. Parent Education: Lunch and Learn Recording
If you missed the Lunch & Learn with Ellie and Christel (Nov 22): A Deficit of Rest: The Mental Health Benefits of Creating Space for Calm and Rest you can view it here.
Christel and Ellie explained how rest (and sometimes the deficit of rest) impacts mental health for children and looked at the intersection of rest with other core capacities including noticing, reflecting, and empathizing. They discussed the importance of intentionally protecting and creating time for rest in our very busy digital age.
(Recordings of previous “Lunch & Learn” sessions and other PA Parent PD speakers can also be viewed on the JICSfamily Parent Ed webpage)
5. 'JICS at the Movies' Gratitude and Photos
Thank you to everyone who came to watch Women Talking and Brother with us in support of the Diana Rankin Muncaster Family (DRMF) Tuition Support Fund.
These films were beautiful, thought provoking, and have left a mark on us. A huge thank you and round of applause to Sarah and Damon for making 'JICS at the Movies' possible.
It was very special to gather as an extended JICS community for these events. We are so grateful for the community that surrounds our school and supports us.
This hugely successful event has kickstarted the year’s fundraising focus for the Diana Rankin Muncaster Family (DRMF) Tuition Support Fund. The Fund offers needs-based support that will both enable to increase diversity and retain current JICS families in financial need. Please see above for how to continue to support in the lead up to Giving Tuesday. We will keep you updated as we continue to chase our goal of raising $150,000 for tuition support this year.
Thank you everyone!
6. Message from Parents Association: Corporate Giving
JICS PA Corporate Giving Campaign
Contribute to JICS through your Corporate United Way Campaign. The goals of this campaign are to raise $5,600 for the JICS Parents' Association. Any funds raised over $5,600 will go directly to the JICS Tuition Support Fund.
Contribute to the "St. George's School's Parents' Association DBA Jackman ICS Parents' Association," Charitable Registrations #119175537-RR0001
Contact jicstreasurer@gmail.com if you make a contribution.
7. Photos from the Week at JICS
Grade 3: Math + Inquiry
As part of an Inquiry Math integration, Robin's Grade Three Class designed lego racers to travel the greatest distance. They designed prototypes, tested them then took part in knowledge building discussions to improve their designs.
After this, they participated in the Grand Prix, measuring and recording the total distance traveled by their cars and reflecting on the effectiveness of their designs.
Grade 4/5B: Wordpool – A class magazine
Ben's Grade 4/5 Class has written over 60 pages of incredible content. Check out snippets here and in-person at reception. Instead of describing it ourselves, we thought we'd share the Letter from the Editor:
"Hello JICS, welcome to Word Pool. If you are looking for something to read, we’ve got you. We decided to make a school magazine for fun but also to raise money for UNICEF. I think you should like it, I mean it has so much fun stuff in it! If you take joy in Comics, Facts, Stories, Poems, Minecraft, Articles, News, Word games, How To and Comedy, then you’ll like it. In the process of making this issue, we started looking through other magazines to see what other people wrote in them, and then we decided what to write, and worked on multiple drafts — but enough of that stuff, let’s get fun talking. If you liked this one stay tuned for our next magazine. Enjoy! - Alexandra and the Grade 4/5s"
Grade 4/5Z: Patterning, Geometry, Symmetry and Art
The students in Zoe's Grade 4/5 Class were inspired by the beautiful geometric patterns and tessellations in Islamic Art and Architecture to create their own artistic patterns with polygons.
Notice the geometry, experimentations with symmetry (translation, radial, reflection), and play with patterns that the students have utilized to create their beautiful designs.
