Mar 30, 2023

Spring Term, Final Days with Teacher Candidates, Read-a-thon Update, Photos, and More!

Topics covered in this post:

Students pose with a snake from Scales Nature Park

Spring Term
Final Days with Teacher Candidates
JICS Read-a-thon
Parents’ Association Contributions to the Lab School
Conferences
March Break Daycare Camp
Photos from the Week at JICS
Upcoming March Events
Upcoming April Events

1. Spring Term

The children returned following the Break with contagious energy and engagement. We are looking forward to the Spring Term! Stay tuned for announcements about annual student and community events that typically take place during this time of year.

2. Final Days with Teacher Candidates

Beginning in September, we have Teacher Candidates from the OISE MA in Child Studies & Education (MA CSE) Program in our JK to Grade 6 classrooms. Tomorrow is the official last day for the Block 2 Teacher Candidates (1st year students) and we say good-bye to the Winter Interns (2nd year students) on Friday, April 14. We are grateful for their support in our classrooms and for learning alongside us about what is best for children. We wish them success as they continue their development as future teachers.

3. JICS Read-a-thon

The amount of reading the children did this month is staggering. Thank you all for your support of our annual read-a-thon. Your donations will be used to replace lost and broken books, purchase new books, and support authors, illustrators, and storytellers to visit with students. Donations of $25 or more will be rewarded with a personalized book plate placed in a new library book.

Additional information for parents: https://www.jicsfamily.com/readathon

Online donations: http://bit.ly/JICS2023

On Monday, we welcomed author Danny Ramadan, who presented his book Salma the Syrian Chef to grade 1-6. He also spoke of his work with the Rainbow Railroad with the junior students and about the challenges that face refugees.

This author visit was in honour of our read-a-thon, and supported by funds raised in previous read-a-thons! We are organizing a visit for early years and will let you know when it is confirmed.

4. Parents’ Association Contributions to the Lab School

Your donation to the PA support the school in many ways. The PA funds our lice check (today), parent education events, socials, and learning/play material to enrich our programming. We are grateful for your support!

5. Conferences

JICS faculty take advantage of the many educational conference to advance our professional development. When teachers return from conference, they present their new learning at our Wednesday Afternoon Staff Meetings.

The following is a list of recently attended conferences:

National Art Education Association’s National Leadership Conference in Park City, UT. (Tara)
LabSchoolsEurope Conference in Bielefeld, Germany. (Richard)
CSEA (Canadian Society for Education through Art) and OAEA (The Ontario Art Education Association) Conference “Reshaping the Future of the World through Art” in Ottawa, ON. (Tara)
Wisdom 2.0 International Conference on Mindfulness with Jon Kabat-Zinn “From mindfulness in education to everyday life, explore the role and responsibility each one of us can play in supporting a world with more presence, compassion, and connection” online. (Christel)
National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Conference “¡Suenos - Pursuing the Light!” in Anaheim, CA. (Ben and Krista)
Hot Docs Teacher Conference with Buffy Sainte-Marie. Toronto, ON. (Nadia)
National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) Annual Conference “Cultivating Community” Las Vegas, NV. (Richard)

Upcoming conferences:

National Art Education Association (NAEA) Convention, April 13-15, San Antonio, TX. (Tara)
American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting “Interrogating Consequential Education Research in Pursuit of Truth,” April 13-16, Chicago, IL. (Richard)
Take Me Outside 2023 Outdoor Learning Conference “Place and Pedagogy: Where Learning Happens,” May 4-6. Banff, AB. (Krista and David)
The JICS Lab School will be hosting the 2023 International Association of Laboratory Schools (IALS) Conference “Designing Cultures of Learning: the essential purpose of lab schools” April 26-28. Toronto, ON. (All JICS teachers) More information coming soon!

6. March Break Daycare Camp

Thirty lucky students participated in the Daycare March Break Camp. The Daycare will be providing a June Camp (June 19 – 30). Details coming.

7. Photos from the Week at JICS

Reptiles and amphibians visit JICS

Jeff Hathaway from Scales Nature Park and Ben Porchuk visited our school on Tuesday. The workshop allowed students and teachers to meet many of the native reptiles and amphibians of our region. Jeff's work is about conservation in the field and with people – using our native animals as the spokes-beings to promote conservation. It was also an opportunity to think of our courtyard as a habitat for these species and to learn about some animals which may be showing up in our courtyard in the future. Thank you Jeff and Ben!