Brookside Connect! January 2025!
Principal's Message
Happy 2025, Lunar New Year and Pongal, Brookside families!
We are filled with excitement and optimism for the opportunities this new year will bring to our school community.As we plunge into 2025, it is important to reflect on the progress that we have made academically, socially and professionally thus far and take the opportunity to set, revisit and rethink our goals and priorities with our students and make plans for how to attain them. Please ensure that you take a moment to sit down with your child and review his/her progress thus far this year, or perhaps, set new goals for him/her to attain.When setting goals with your child, remember to phrase them in a positive way (e.g., I am going to make my writing even better this month by including more details!).
Thank you to those parents/caregivers that have provided your feedback through our Brookside Equity Continuum Survey. If you have not had a chance to provide your feedback as of yet, please take a moment to share your thoughts and feedback with us about our school environment by Friday, January 10, 2025. This survey is completely anonymous.
Click HERE to share your feedback with us: Brookside Equity Continuum Survey
Eckleton Richards Jr. Sarah Sirbos
Principal Vice-Principal
Email: brooksidepublicschool@tdsb.on.ca
Follow us on X: @BrooksidePSTDSB
Website: schoolweb.tdsb.on.ca/brookside
Table of Contents:
- Brookside Student Council (BSC) Update!
- Eco-Team- Summary of 2024!
- Art Club
- Beaver Computer Club
- Debate Team
- School Community Council
- Volleyball at Brookside
- Girls' Basketball at Brookside
- Brookside Global Citizens- Needs/Food Drive
- January is Kindergarten Registration Month
- Severe Weather Procedures – TDSB Policy
- Middle French Immersion
- Tamil Canadian Centre for Civic Action and Tamil Heritage Month Council Information
- Google Calendar
- TDSB Days of Significance
- Tamil Heritage Month (Thai Pongal)
- Lunar New Year
- Repeats and Reminders
- Learn4Life Adult Community Programs
- Winter 2025 Registration Now Open!
Eco-Team- Summary of 2024!
Brookside's ECO Team had a successful start in October. In advance, the Eco Team Executives were able to create a plan for strategies in choosing our representatives. Two students from each class were to be chosen as Eco team representatives for the 24/25 school year. 24 total responses from Grade 5 to Grade 8 students. The ECO Team showed their leadership problem-solving skills, listening skills, decisions and organization skills. With these skills, Brookside's ECO Team had many effective initiatives in November and December, such as World Sustainable Travel Day, Walk to School Day, Sweater Day and G.O.O.S.E Paper Day. In advance, ECO Representatives and ECO Executive members were able to create initiatives for the year 2025. Eco Team, out!
-Athieban & Sabbresh
Art Club
Hello Brookside! We have news about the Brookside Art Council. The B.A.C. has prepared another workshop for January. January’s workshop is about pottery and sculpting! Using clay, you can make your dreams come true! You can make lot’s of things with clay, for example, pots, cups, bowls, plates, mugs, etc. Sculpting is a very fun way to make your own creations and it’s a very nice way to relax and settle down. Just a quick reminder that if you have participated in an abstract or marvel comic book cover workshop, unfortunately, you can NOT join again because we want all our Bulldogs to have an opportunity to enjoy the creativity that art has to offer.
Stay tuned for more workshops!
By Hashini and Prithikaa (Mr. Lee and Ms. Noorhammed)
Beaver Computer Club
Hello Brookside! This year the Grade 4 to 6 graders did the beaver, hosted by Ms. Churchill. The Beaver Computing Challenge is an IQ test created by Waterloo. Grade 5/6, Grade 7/8 and Grade 9/10 can participate in this challenge. Fun fact: Overall, there were over ten thousand participants worldwide!
Congratulations to Ammar for earning first place, Gajaanan who came in second place, and Aarrus for earning third place. Congratulations to all others who have participated in the Beaver Computing Challenge. You’ve all done a very great job, and we appreciate all your hard work. Thank you!
By Prithikaa and Hashini (Ms. Churchill)
Debate Team
Debate Team is a club open to all Intermediate students, happening every Monday at lunch in Ms. Thompson’s room. It is led by an Intermediate student, Aradhya. In the Debate Team, we learn skills that are essential for debating. We learn these skills through well planned activities that are fun and enjoyable. We learn more by doing different activities every week.
By: Poomiha & Akshara (Ms. Thompson)
School Community Council
Our next School Council Meeting will be held virtually on January 27th, 2025 via Microsoft Teams: The Meeting link is here.
Hello Parents and Caregivers,
I hope you are all doing well and getting ready for the holidays. On behalf of the School Council, I want to thank you for the continuous support you have given us. I’m confident this support will continue.
To organize more activities at Brookside, we need additional funding. Our team has decided to seek contributions from business owners and well-wishers within our community. We kindly ask that you take a few minutes to read this letter and forward it to any business owners or community members you know who might be willing to help. Your support will greatly contribute to our students’ progress.
On behalf of the School Council team, thank you for your time and assistance.
School Council-Open Letter to Fund Raise
Regards,
School Council Co-Chairs
Neerajah Ponnampalam and Andrew Ariyaratnam
Email: 4073SC01@tdsb.on.ca
Volleyball at Brookside!
On December 10th 2024, the Grade 6 Girls Basketball Team played Birch Cliff Public School here at Brookside for the semi-finals. With an unfortunate loss of 14-13, our Bulldogs will not be advancing. Great Season Bulldogs!
By: Arushi
The Grade 8 Boys Volleyball Team showed great strength, teamwork and perseverance at the play-offs. Sadly, the boys will not be advancing to the next round. Amazing season Bulldogs!
By: Arushi
Girls' Basketball at Brookside
The Grade 8 Girls Basketball Team played an amazing game at the quarter-finals.They did their best in the quarter finals against Cedarbrook Public School, but sadly, this is the end of their season. Amazing job, Bulldogs!
By: Arushi
Global Citizens- Needs Drive Update!
Hello Brookside Families!!
The Global Citizens Needs Drive successfully concluded with overwhelming support from students. Through collective action and generous contributions, essential resources like food, clothing, and other needs were distributed to Feed Scarborough Food Bank on Kingston Road. All of the collected items were sent off to Feed Scarborough Food Bank on Tuesday, December 10th. Thank you to the Global Citizens for your hard, dedicated, work and support!
By Nihashini
January is Kindergarten Registration Month
Registration for all TDSB English Kindergarten programs begins in January. Families have the option of registering their child online at www.tdsb.on.ca/kindergarten or in-person at the school. With both options, families will be invited to come to the school to validate registration information and participate in a Welcome to Kindergarten event hosted by the school.
Severe Weather Procedures – TDSB Policy
Children need an opportunity to get exercise and have free play time outdoors, however, weather conditions sometimes warrant that indoor recesses, lunch periods and pre-entry periods be considered necessary for student and staff safety. When an outdoor recess is not possible, we strive to find alternative opportunities for students to engage in daily physical activity to keep their bodies and minds active and alert.
Please be advised, when temperature and/or wind chill factor indicates -28C or lower, students will remain indoors due to risk of frostnip and frostbite. On cold and inclement days (-20 to -28 C), recesses may be shortened to 10 minutes and lunch recess to 20 minutes.
Please send your child/children to school dressed for the weather outdoors. Whenever possible, we will go outside for morning and afternoon recess, and a 40 minute play time at lunch. You can check the daily weather at: http://weather.gc.ca/city/pages/on-143_metric_e.html
As we enter the winter season, severe weather will be part of our daily lives for the next several months. From time to time, it is helpful and important to review safety tips for snow and ice, particularly for parts of the school yard that are not cleared.
Our school facility team works hard throughout the winter to maintain pathways and clear snow and ice along designated walkways and play areas. It is important to note, however, that some parts of school property – like the back field and paved area – are not cleared. We would like to encourage students, parents/guardians and community members to use cleared pathways to enter and exit school property whenever possible and to exercise extra caution when crossing the field and other areas that are slippery due to snow and ice.
Middle French Immersion
For more information and to apply online, please visit: www.tdsb.on.ca/French
TDSB Days of Significance
Tamil Heritage Month at the TDSB - January 2024
Hello Brookside! The heritage of this month is Tamil Heritage Month. Tamil Heritage Month was created in January 2010. Fun fact, did you know that most children at Brookside are Tamil? Yes! Now you may ask, what is Tamil Heritage Month? Tamil Heritage Month is made to celebrate the history of Canada's Tamil community and its contributions that help strengthen Canada. Between the 1970s - 2000s, the Tamils came to Canada to flee from the stress of the ethnic tensions during the Sri Lankan Civil War, hoping to find a better life here. So Brookside, let’s celebrate Tamil Heritage Month!
By Hashini and Prithikaa
This year, the theme for Tamil Heritage Month is from a quotation by influential Tamil philosopher Kaniyan Pungundranar:
Kinship: யாதும் ஊரே யாவரும் கேளிர் // Yaadhum Oore Yaavarum Kelir : To us, all towns are one, and all people are our kin
The theme of kinship and interconnectedness of all people is important to Tamil people. It emphasizes the idea that regardless of where we come from, we are all part of a larger family. This theme encourages us to celebrate diversity and foster unity within communities, highlighting that our differences enrich our shared human experience.
Toronto has the largest Tamil population outside of the South Asian subcontinent, with thousands of TDSB students and staff identifying as Tamil. Throughout January, we encourage you to explore various aspects of kinship - whether through family ties, friendships, or community connections.
To mark Tamil Heritage Month at the TDSB, various educational opportunities will be offered to students to learn about Tamil history, customs, and traditions. Recently, all TDSB students were invited to submit an image that reflects this year’s theme to a Poster Challenge. Three winning selections were made, and we are delighted to share them with you above.
We are thrilled to have author Meera Sriram present one of her latest books, The Spice Box, to elementary students in early January and have students participate in some dance moves while learning about traditional dances and their significance. Finally, a video of a celebratory Tamil Heritage Month event at Alvin Curling Public School will be shared soon. Stay tuned!
For further information about Tamil Heritage Month, please follow @TDSB_Tamil on X to learn interesting facts on Tamil traditions and explore what students have to say in their own words about the Tamil heritage.
We are also sharing that there is an International QTC Exhibition taking place at the Scarborough Museum. Details are noted below.
The First time on Turtle Island and in the Global diaspora, this unique exhibition features excellence in Queer Tamil Visual Art from eight countries: Canada, UK, Germany, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Guadeloupe and Trinidad. Artistic mediums include painting, textile, ceramic,photography and film.
See attached Exhibition poster.
Exhibition duration: 2024 January Tamil Heritage Month
Venue: The Scarborough Museum
1007 Brimley Rd, Toronto, ON M1P 3E8
Thai Pongal is a Tamil celebration that is in January. This year (2025) Thai Pongal is on January 14th to January 17th. So why is Thai Pongal celebrated anyways? Thai Pongal is a day to thank the sun and the farmers who help us get food. On this day Tamil people wear their cultural clothing such as a sari, a vetti, a neela pavadai sattai, or any other cultural clothing. Tamil people eat many different foods on this day as well. Like pongal, vadai, carambu, and much more. Pongal is the main food on this day. It is a sweet boiled rice that has cashews. Thai Pongal is held for four days. Each day you do something different. They are called Bhogi Pongal, Surya Pongal, Maatu Pongal, and finally Kaanum Pongal. Bhogi Pongal is when you clean the house, get rid of old things, and decorate the house, to get ready for the new year. Surya Pongal is when people pray to the sun god. Maatu Pongal is the day to honour cattles for giving milk and the hard work they do. Finally Kaanam Pongal is when Tamil people give importance to the community. So happy Thai Pongal to all those who celebrate!
- Raghavi and Lakshara
Tamil Canadian Centre for Civic Action and Tamil Heritage Month Council Information
3 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/14O_DvQvD3KRx8GsM6Lw4JdAwZtAGMicL/view?usp=sharing
4 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sdgE6UkicXYiz6FWSiubkizaaGc1n_Cm/view?usp=sharing
5 - https://drive.google.com/file/d/19sSIu14yUe_to8aNTsDSF7a4w7G2p1H1/view?usp=sharing
The Tamil Canadian Centre for Civic Action and the Tamil Heritage Month Council as sharing educational youth programming plans for the 16th Annual Tamil Heritage Month with the TDSB. Tamil Canadian Centre for Civic Action is a grassroots non-profit organization working towards the success of all Tamil Canadians in the social, political, economic, and cultural spheres of Canada through education, documentation, engagement, training, research, policy change and collaboration.
Lunar New Year
This year Lunar New Year is celebrated on Wednesday, January 29, 2025 and is celebrated by countries such as China and other Asian countries. Lunar New Year is a celebration of spring arriving and the beginning of a new year on the lunisolar calendar. To celebrate, families wear clothes in the lucky colors red and gold and families often make baos, pancakes, and noodles, and dumplings from scratch. Lunar New Year is a fifteen-day celebration. To any of you who celebrate, have a happy Lunar New Year!
By: Tharaki & Terese
Repeats and Reminders...
Learn4Life Adult Community Programs - Winter 2025 Registration Now Open!
Schools are encouraged to share the following information for parents in their school newsletters. Staff are also encouraged to participate!
Registration for winter courses in the Learn4Life Adult General Interest Program opens on November 13 at 8:30 a.m. Available to adults 18 and older, the Learn4Life program offers a unique opportunity to pursue interests, expand knowledge, and engage in lifelong learning. The program features a wide range of courses and activities designed to cater to diverse interests and passions—from art and fitness to languages, sports and handiwork.
Some of the new courses this term include:
- Making Your Home Smarter
- Classics of Horror
- Wood Carving Introduction
- How to Minimize Cost of Living and Maximize your Purchasing Power
- Strength for Life - Full Body Fitness
- Portugal’s Iconic Pastel de Nata Workshop
Courses start January 11, 2025.
Visit Learn4Life’s program page for more information.
Winter Well-Being Guide 2024-2025
The Winter Well-Being Guide 2024-2025 is now available. The Guide is prepared by the Mental Health and Well-Being Committee, In collaboration with the Mental Health Leads and the System Leader for Mental Health and PSS. The Winter Well-Being Guide 2024-2025 offers updated, culturally relevant, and responsive resources to support students and parents/caregivers/guardians in fostering mental and physical wellness during the winter months. It also includes specific supports tailored for students with disabilities and complex needs.
To ensure accessibility for our diverse community, the guide has been translated into the top spoken languages within the TDSB. You can access it here: The Winter Well-Being Guide 2024-2025
We encourage you to share this guide widely with students, parents/caregivers/guardians and your school communities, promoting well-being and continually building circles of care during the winter season. For any questions, please feel free to email the mentalhealthandwellbeing@tdsb.on.ca .