Pizza Lunch at Don Valley - Thursday, February 1st.

A reminder that our next Pizza lunch is this coming Thursday, Feburary 1st for those who have ordered.  

Ordering for the February Pizza Lunches has already closed. However if you are interested in ordering for future dates, please note SchoolCashOnline is open for payment for two months of Pizza Lunches at a time. Here are the payment dates to keep in mind:

March and April-              Cash Online opens March 4^th and closed March 15^th

May and June-                  Cash Online opens April 1^st and closes April 11^th

Please see the attachment for our Pizza Lunch dates.   Don Valley Pizza 2023-2024.pdf 

 Many thanks for your support!

Don Valley Middle School is in its second year participating in the Toronto School Travel Planning (STP) Program. The program promotes safe, sustainable school travel in our school and community. As a part of the program, we have developed a School Travel Plan, installed the gate in the school parking lot, and are planning to redesign and repave the parking lot and expand bike parking. In addition, Don Valley has established an STP Committee, which we convened to brainstorm and address the school's traffic safety concerns. For the second and final year of the program, we are looking for students and parents to get involved in the STP Committee and help us develop education and encouragement solutions to promote traffic safety. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact us or the program facilitator at the school, whom you can reach at sismail@greencommunities.org.

Sabat Ismail

School Travel Planner

E: sismail@greencommunitiescanada.org

Curriculum Night – Wednesday October 4^th 6pm – 7pm

On Wednesday, October 4^th, we are excited to be welcoming our DV families for our Curriculum Night.  We look forward to engaging you in learning a bit more about the teaching plans for this year.  Please note that this will be general information as specific information about your child will be given at parent teacher interviews in November. More information to come shortly.

PA Day Friday October 6th

Please remember that this Friday, October 6^th there will be no school as it is a PA Day.  Staff will be involved in various Professional Activities.  If you would like to find out more about the plans for staff for this/or any PA Day this year please see www.tdsb.on.ca/PAdays

Terry Fox Fundraising

The Terry Fox Fundraising Initiative  is alive and well for the 2023-2024 school year! An informative newsletter will be sent home shortly outlining all of the planned fundraising activities for the upcoming weeks. As a Don Valley community, we are looking to keep our strong fundraising tradition alive and surpass the $2100+ funds that were donated last year.

With many thanks in advance for your support in our efforts to raise cancer awareness and donations used for cancer research as we continue to support the Terry Fox Foundation. Please stay tuned for more details.

We are super excited to share some really good news with you!

Every September, schools review actual student enrolment as compared to initial projections from last April and reorganize classes where required. We do our best to plan for the new school year, but there are always factors, such as new or departing students, that might affect how classrooms are organized.

As a result of changing student enrolment at our school, we received notification that we will have 2.5 more teachers at Don Valley!  Our numbers in our Grade 6, 7 and 8 English classes have been extremely large.  Due to our large numbers of students, we will need to reorganize the classrooms for Grades 6C, 6D, 7C, 7D, 8C and 8D to best support our students in smaller class sizes. 

Changes to classes at our school will take place by Monday, October 2, 2023. As the school year progresses, we will continue to monitor classes where there is enrolment growth.

We know that for students and parents, changing classes may be difficult and may require an adjustment period. Students will be supported as they transition through these classroom changes. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us or your child/ren’s teacher. 

Greetings from the Music Department!

Extra-curricular Music Started this Week! 

DV Dragon Band rehearses Tuesdays after school until 4:20 pm.  After-School Strings rehearses Wednesdays after school until 4:20pm.

Starting in October, the DV Dragon Band and After-School Strings will also meet during lunch recess on Thursdays.

Musicians with at least one year of experience on an instrument are always welcome.

Please see Ms. Ricketts for a consent form to join a group.

Knitting and Crochet Club

Knitting and Crochet Club will take place after school on Mondays and Thursdays from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.  Our first meeting will be on Monday, October 23^rd. More information to come!

I hope many of our skilled knitters and crocheters from last year will help mentor our new students joining this club!

Ms. Lee will provide consent forms to join this club during our first meeting!

Don Valley's Gym Uniforms and Spirit Wear

• You are able to purchase your children's Don Valley gym uniforms on Cash Online. The gym uniform includes our DV t-shirt and shorts for a total of $35. Please purchase them as soon as possible.
   
• Our school spirit wear will come at a later date. More information to come. 

Hello Families,

The countdown has begun! The nice weather this week has put everyone into a summer mood!  There are still lots of great things happening at Don Valley as we start to get ready for the end of the year.

Pizza Lunch: Change of Date

Please note that pizza lunch has changed for Friday June 23 to Thursday June 22. 

Is your family moving?

Please let the office know if your family is moving and your child(ren) will be going to another school in September. Thank you.

Grade 8 Graduation: It’s almost here!

Graduation will take place Friday starting with a ceremony in the cafeteria at 6:30. After the ceremony, the students are invited to join their classmates in the gym for music, food and fun! Please remember that students must be picked up by 10 pm.  We are all looking forward to this special evening.

Cricket News:

Congratulations to our grade 6 and grade 7/8 cricket teams who represented Don Valley with pride at yesterday's City Championships. The grade 6s battled hard and took 3rd place in the city! The grade 7/8 team finally took down Cosburn MS for the first time in the semi finals and used this momentum to capture the City Championships by handily beating Hilliard PS in the final. Way to go Dragons!

Rugby News:

What an amazing day for Don Valley flag rugby! Last Monday, our grade 6 and grade 7/8 teams played through torrential downpours at the city championships hosted at Central Tech. Both teams won their semi finals convincingly and moved on to the finals. In the end, our grade 7/8 team came out as city finalists and our grade 6 team as city champions! The girls and boys on both teams should be extremely proud of their effort, sportsmanship and attitudes throughout the season. Way to go DV!

Camp White Pine:

Last week almost 100 Grade 8 students spent Tuesday to Friday at Camp White Pine.  By all accounts it was a great trip and students tried many new activities and gained new experiences.  Please wait for next week’s email to read some students’ accounts of the trip.

Pop Tabs Collection:

Thank you to all that remembered to donated pop tabs. On Wednesday we are having an assembly and they will be presented to the March of Dimes Organization.

Library Books, Textbooks, etc

Please check your homes for any library books, textbooks, etc that need to be returned to Don Valley.  Thank you.

Dear Families!

Welcome to June!  In June we celebrate Indigenous History Month and Pride Month at the TDSB!  The character trait for the month is PERSEVERANCE.

We have a BUSY month of focussed learning in store for all so please scroll down for more updates.

Pride

The Rainbow Room, a GSA organization for members of the  LGBTQ2S+ community and its allies at Don Valley, is excited to share information about some of the events that will be happening in June. 

June is formally recognized by the TDSB as a time to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements, history and cultural diversity within the LGBTQ2S+ community.  The first pillar of the TDSB Anti-Hate and Anti-Racism Strategy is the Affirmation of Identities and as such, we are proud to not only provide safe spaces for our students in the Rainbow Room to meet and collaborate on various projects such as organizing assemblies and fundraising campaigns, but to also give young people the chance to learn, grow and be respected as individuals in an inclusive and nurturing environment.  

Upon the request of Harvey Milk (the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California), the Rainbow Flag was designed by Gilbert Baker in 1978 and first debuted in San Francisco at the Gay Freedom Day Parade as a symbol of unity for the LGBTQ community.  This month, the PRIDE flag will be hoisted at Don Valley as a symbol of inclusion and equity for all of our students while also serving to remind us about our commitment to interrupting hate and oppression each and every day.  

The members of the Rainbow Room and their allies will be hosting several events this month including a “Wear your PRIDE” friendship bracelet making workshop on June 6th and 7th (two dollars for each), a “Sweet Rainbow Treats” bake sale during the third week of June and finally, our button making campaign in which students can create their own designer buttons for two dollars each. All proceeds raised throughout the month will be donated to the KidsHelpPhone, an e-health organization, to assist in their ongoing efforts to support youth on a 24/7 basis. 

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have supported the fundraising and other various initiatives presented this year. 

The Rainbow Room and Staff of Don Valley Middle School

Variety Village Trip

On Wednesday, May 31, students from our DD Intensive Support Program classes went to Variety Village to take part in the TDESAA-run Barrier-Free Day. Our students were counting down the days to our trip and when the day finally came, they were beyond excited to be on the bus and arrive to a day filled with fun activities and being in community among other students and staff from many TDSB schools. There were over 100 students at the event and to say we had fun is an understatement! We took part in yoga, wheelchair basketball, sledge hockey, dancing, a race, an obstacle course and the Blue Jays Challenger baseball. The highlight was seeing the Raptor and Carlton the Bear from The Toronto Raptors and the Toronto Maple Leafs! 

From the Music Department:

We are so proud of the DV students who performed in our Music Sharing Spring Edition!  Thank you so much to all who were able to participate and be a part of 2 amazing evenings. Thank you for making each evening very special with your respect and attention to every detail. 

And to our families - Thank you for your ongoing support of the music program at Don Valley. 

Please take a look at home for any Band or String books borrowed from the Music rooms and return them as soon as possible.

– Ms. Hambleton and Ms. Ricketts

Track and Field

On Wednesday, June 7, Don Valley will send 37 student-athletes to represent our school at the Track and Field Conference Finals at Esther Shiner Stadium! We are excited to attend a full day of friendly competition against other schools in the TDSB. A huge congratulations to the track team for practicing at lunches and being so dedicated to your event! Parents are welcome to come cheer on your children at Esther Shiner Stadium. 

Ultimate Frisbee

On Thursday, June 8, our grade 7/8 ultimate frisbee team will be hosting a tournament at home. You should be commended for working so hard on your endurance and accuracy. Goooooooo Dragons! ROARRRRRRR!

Welcome Refugees Project

Over the last few weeks, students have been designing postcards and writing messages to welcome new refugees to Canada. Partnering with Students Rebuild for the Welcome Refugees Project, $10 will be donated to refugee aid organizations for each postcard.  DV students have submitted 137 postcards so far which means at least $1370 will be donated!  

A Run/Walk Club!

Please see the attached for a Run/Walk Club on Tuesday and Thursday mornings!   Run club.pdf 

Dates to Remember:

June 7-9 EQAO for Grade 6 Students

June 8 – 8A/8B Film Trip

June 9 – Pizza Lunch (for those that ordered)

June 13-16 Grade 8 Trip to Camp White Pine

June 19 – Grade 7 Movie Theatre Trip

June 23 - Pizza Lunch (for those that ordered)

June 23 – Grade 8 Graduation

Treat Sales in the Cafe this week during Lunch - Wednesday, March 1 to Friday, March 3, 2023

We are so excited to share that we are bringing back treat sales during lunch! We are fundraising for students in our Intensive Support Program along with their Best Buddies for an upcoming trip to Variety Village on Friday, March 9, 2023. This trip is expensive, and we are fundraising to offset the cost. We encourage our students to bring in change and small bills ($5, $10) to purchase a treat for themselves from Wednesday to Friday this upcoming week.

As always, thank you for your continued support! 

Traffic Safety Committee

Don Valley Middle School is establishing a Traffic Safety Committee to promote safe, sustainable school travel in our school and community, and we are looking for supporters.

Tuesday, February 28^th, the Traffic Safety Committee will begin discussing and collecting information on traffic safety concerns present at Don Valley and start brainstorming solutions. Parents, guardians, students, and community members are welcome to join us Tuesday. 

The Zoom link will be shared with all families shortly.

An Evening of Musical Sharing - Thursday, March 2, 2023, at 7pm.

All the Don Valley musicians have been working very hard at learning their newly acquired instruments and are preparing for a concert to share what they have learned with family and friends. As it is expected that all students will participate in their performance night, we hope that any students with other classes or lessons can rearrange those for this special occasion as we look to build our community of musicians.

The Grade 7/8 Band & Strings classes and the After-School String Orchestra and Band (The DV Dragon Band) will share with friends and family what we have been learning and preparing in music classes.  This is a re-scheduled event from December which was cancelled twice due to weather with the addition of the 2 extra-curricular groups.

The Grade 7/8 Band & Strings Sharing (Late Winter Edition) will take place on Thursday, March 2 at 7 pm in DV's cafetorium.

 Students - please arrive for set-up at 6:30.

Ski Trip

Last Friday over 200 Don Valley students and staff enjoyed the day skiing and snowboarding at Mount St. Louis Moonstone Ski Resort. It was a beautiful sunny day to be outside enjoying winter. After putting on their gear the students had a lesson and then hit the slopes! It was great to see students trying something new and persevering to develop new skills. It was also great to see the Don Valley students that had already experienced skiing and snowboarding continuing to develop skills. Thanks to Ms. Micallef for all her hard work in making sure this trip ran smoothly.

Boys 7/8 Basketball

Way to go to members of the grade 7/8 boys’ basketball team after their season concluded earlier this week. They played extremely hard and finished with an even record. In their last game, they gave the top-ranked Woodbine team all they could handle. Nice job boys, you made us proud! 

Good afternoon Don Valley families,

Thank you so much for the many who came to our Music sharing afternoon yesterday! It was great to see you, and your support for our students’ performances was fantastic. For those who were not able to make it, we will be planning an evening in late January. More information to come!

Yesterday evening, our Grade 6 students and staff returned from their trip to EOEC (Etobicoke Outdoor Education Centre). Their trip was cut a bit shorter than expected due to today’s winter storm. We want to note that our Grade 6 students were AMAZING during their overnight trip! It was so nice to hear from the EOEC staff about how wonderful, polite, and well behaved our students are which says a lot about our families. Thank you to our parents/guardians for raising such fabulous kids and bringing them to Don Valley! A HUGE thank you goes to Mr. Allen, Mr. Gan, Mme Hambleton, Mme Parenteau, Mme Giddings, Ms. Fraser, Mr. Kim and Mr. Hyland for making this trip possible!

We look forward to a Grade 7 and a Grade 8 overnight trip in the new year! More information to come.

Our Grade 8 Volleyball team, Our Grade 6 Volleyball team and our Boys’ Cricket team played well this week in their tournaments! They played hard and represented Don Valley well! Thank you to our coaches: Mr. Allen, Mr. Kim and Ms. Cheung!

A message from our Student Council Corner:

Thank you so much to our school community for donating non-perishable food items for our Winter Food Drive. The impact is significant, and we are grateful for your generosity.

School spirit was bursting from all grades during our last week of school! With Don Valley spirit day, class theme, hat day, and sports jersey day, it was so nice to see students participate with such excitement and enthusiasm!

Today was supposed to be pajama day and many students have already reached out to express their disappointment about missing our last spirit day. To make up for this, Thursday, January 12 will now be declared pajama day! 

A message from Don Valley’s Black Student Alliance:

DVBSA thanks all of our students and staff for their generous donations towards the 1/2 day activities on December 16^th. Thanks to your donations, we raised $363.60 which was sent in the form of a cheque to the Toronto Foundation for Student Success who will then give the funds to a family in need. Many thanks for your support and generosity!

Best Wishes

On behalf of the staff at Don Valley, we would like to wish you and your families a wonderful holiday season, good health and prosperity in 2023. We hope that during this holiday you take some time to enjoy the company of friends and family.  We look forward to your return in the New Year.  May the blessings of the season bring peace, joy, hope and love to your families.

We look forward to seeing our families tomorrow or Thursday evening for our evenings of Music Sharing!

• 7pm-Dec 14: Grade 6 Evening of Musical Sharing
• 7pm-Dec 15: Grades 7 and 8 Evening of Musical Sharing

Here are some updates for you this week:

Free Math Tutoring:

There is a wonderful opportunity for our students to have support with free online Math tutors who are teachers with TVOMathify. Please see below for how to register for this wonderful opportunity.
https://www.tvomathify.com/students- Free 1:1 Math Tutoring for Grade 6-11

Social Media

Cyber Bullying Tips for Parents and Caregivers

https://childrenfirstcanada.org/blog/tips-for-parents-on-how-to-deal-with-cyberbullying/

Grade 6 boys' volleyball team wins!

We are thrilled that our students are now actively involved in sports and extracurricular activities in school and the friendly competition from interschool games is bringing out the best in our athletes! The grade 6 boys' volleyball team competed in a tournament on Wednesday, December 7 against Bayview MS and Windfields MS. After their nerves settled, they won all their games, cheered each other on, and the level of sportsmanship was one of the best I've seen. Even though the other teams lost, the Don Valley Dragons had encouraging words for the opponents, complimenting them on good passes and plays to each other. We are so proud of you all!

Great work by our Grade 6 girls’ basketball team at our tournament last week! They showed determination and a positive attitude during their three games. It was a fun filled day in preparation for their tournaments this week. Way to go!

School is Open Monday!  We have just heard that CUPE and the Ontario government have reached a tentative agreement. This means that there will not be any strike action on Monday, November 21.  Tomorrow will be a normal school day!

If your child was loaned a Chrome Book from the school, please send it back to school on Monday.

Parent-Teacher Interviews: It was wonderful to see families back in the building during our Parent-Teacher Conferences.  We received nothing but positive feedback from both staff and families.

Parents, if you did not have an opportunity to speak with your child’s teachers, please feel free to reach out to them via email or phone call.

Cold Weather:  Please remind your child/ren to dress warmly as it is getting cold now. They will be outside for at least 30-40 minutes daily during their lunch recess.

Upcoming Events:

The Scholastic Book Fair will be coming to Don Valley on November 28^th to December 2^nd! More will be shared closer to the date.

Grade 8 Information Night for High School: Wednesday, October 26^th @ 7pm

A Zoom link was sent to all of our Grade 8 families. We look forward to seeing you on Wednesday evening!

IEPs:

On October 18 students on Individual Education Programs brought home their IEPs. IEPs are created to help support the needs of students and ensure their success at school. Please spend some time looking at the document and if you have any questions please speak to your child’s teacher. Please send back a signed copy of page 5.

Immunization Clinic is Coming to Don Valley:

The Student Immunization Program Clinic for students in Grades 7 and 8 is scheduled for Wednesday, October 26^th, 2022. Please note that signed consent forms must be returned to the school for students to be vaccinated.

Don Valley’s Black Student Alliance is hosting a clothing drive for families in need. 

We are asking for clothing donations for all age groups and genders. We ask that the clothing be in good condition and washed before bringing them to the school. Parents are welcome to send the clothing to the school with the students or the clothing can be delivered at the school. 

The last day for collecting clothing will be on Friday, October 28, 2022, and the clothing will be distributed to the families on November 7, 2022. 

Your donations are greatly appreciated. 

Sincerely, 

Don Valley’s Black Student Alliance Team

Curriculum Night: This week we are excited to welcome families into the school for our Curriculum Night.  It will take place on Wednesday October 12^th at 7:00 pm.  Families will meet in the cafeteria to hear a welcome message from Ms. Lee and Ms. Saley.  Ms. Hambleton and Ms. Ricketts will also be speaking to families about Don Valley’s music program. After the speeches in the cafeteria, families are welcome to visit the classrooms to speak directly to the teachers. We hope all families take advantage of this opportunity to speak to our teachers, learn about the curriculum and visit our school.

Please note that families with children in our Intensive Support Programs will be meeting with Ms. Zhang and Ms. Cheung at 7:00 pm on September 13^th instead of the 12^th.

Picture Day: Student are reminded that Picture Day is this week.  Students will have their photos taken on Thursday October 13.

Terry Fox: The Terry Fox fundraising campaign has been quite successful. With "goodie guesses" being sold, draw tickets for a 2022 Terry Fox t-shirt taking place, a very popular bake sale, our "Toonie for Terry" community walk and online donations, we have raised approximately $2000 to date.  We reached our set goal but have the opportunity to surpass this goal!

Online donations will continue to be accepted until October 31st.  Parents making donations online will receive a tax receipt instantly from the Terry Fox Foundation. Thank you to those families who have generously donated using this platform. Those still wishing to make an online donation can do so using the following link: 

https://schools.terryfox.ca/DonValleyMSNorthYork 

Thank you to all staff, students, parents and guardians for your generosity and for supporting Don Valley's fundraising efforts to raise money for continued cancer research!

It has been quite a busy couple of weeks!  Our graduation was a wonderful celebration but it also made our Don Valley staff very sad to say goodbye to our AMAZING students!  All the best wishes to our graduates and their families!  We hope that you’ll visit us!

We would like to welcome our new Vice-Principal, Karen Saley, to Don Valley.  As you know, your child brought home a letter tonight introducing Karen Saley to our community.  Please see the attached for our softcopy if you did not receive the hardcopy from your child tonight.

Community Letter Don Valley MS VP- KarenSaley Sept 1 2022.pdf 

• On Thursday, June 23, the boys’ and girls’ grade 8 volleyball teams beat the teachers in a staff vs student tournament. The students communicated with each other, served with precision, passed the ball with intention and dominated the entire time. We are so proud of you all. Thank you for being such a wonderful group of student athletes who always played with grace and first-class sportsmanship. We are so proud of you all and will miss you tremendously as you embark on the journey to high school. It truly is bittersweet. Good luck in high school!
• June 13^th, our wonderful students went to an Ultimate Frisbee and Cricket tournaments. Cricket is alive and well at Don Valley! In our inaugural season, our boys and girls represented the school with pride and determination. Our grade 7 boys team captured the North region title after two hard fought battles with Woodbine MS. Our grade 6 co-ed team competed extremely well. With only a few practices under their belt, they learned the game quickly and picked up two wins at their tournament. Their only losses were very close games and I'm sure they will learn from this and be back stronger than ever next year! Thanks again to all parents for their continued support in getting our student athletes to and from their tournaments/practices!
• Thursday June 23 was an amazing day for ultimate Frisbee. Don Valley A and B had a great day, showing their cheer and enthusiasm. After a full day of frisbee, our teams came 2nd and 3rd respectively and left the field having learned many new skills to prepare them for next year! The grade 7 and 8 ultimate frisbee team came home victorious winning all five of their games. The team played with clear eyes and full hearts, never giving up, playing with strategy and precision. Great job team! 

It was a wonderful week for our Grade 8 graduates who spent most of their week at Camp White Pine! Our Don Valley staff, and I really enjoyed seeing our Grade 8s having so much fun!

Thanks to Mrs. Ho, the rest of our school (Grade 6s and 7s) were engaged with making and eating delicious cupcakes last week!

Results came for Pythagoras!

On April 6th, 2022 forty seven grade 6 students wrote the Pythagoras Math Contest. Almost half of our participating students finished with a score higher than the Canadian average of 62%. A huge congratulations goes out to Anun B. who scored a 46/50. Well done!  Thank you to all who participated.

Our Don Valley Dragons flag rugby team is amazing! In our school's first ever flag rugby tournament, Don Valley gave their best efforts and made us proud. The grade 6 team was undefeated and developed well as a group throughout the day. Our grade 7/8 had an amazing progression throughout the tournament and most importantly had fun and showed excellent sportsmanship. We are excited to host the Toronto Inner City Rugby Foundation at Don Valley for the entire school from June 20th to June 22nd for some engaging and fun rugby sessions. Thanks to the parents as well for their support!

Please see next week’s updates and items for you to know:

• SAVE THE DATE: Our Grade 8 Graduation will be on Tuesday, June 28^th!  Please save the date. Information has been emailed to our Grade 8 families directly. We look forward to celebrating your child/ren!
• If you are moving and your child will not be attending Don Valley for the 2022-2023 school year, would you kindly let us know? We are planning for the next school year so this information would be very helpful. Please see the attached form.   Are You Moving.pdf 
• We are presently working on our IEP summaries. If your child has an IEP, parents/guardians were sent the last IEP consultations for the year on Monday, June 6^th by your child’s homeroom teacher.  We ask that you provide input as soon as possible.
• We have a Grade 6 Cricket tournament tomorrow.  
• We have a special partnership with the Toronto Inner City Rugby Foundation who will be doing interactive Rugby sessions for our students on Monday to Wednesday this week.
• There is a Grade 6 Ultimate Frisbee tournament at Don Valley this Thursday.
• Ms. Zhang’s and Ms. Cheung’s classes will be celebrating their Grade 8 students this Thursday at 1pm!  Happy Graduation!
• This Friday is our last Pizza Day for our students. A HUGE thank you goes to our School Council Chairs for making this happen for us!
• This Friday our Black Students’ Alliance Club will be hosting a Collaborative Cultural Event. We look forward to this wonderful event!
• Friday morning, we have a special Feeder School Visit for our Intensive Support Program. We are looking forward to spending some time with our incoming students!

Please see this week’s updates and items for you to know:

• This week’s Intramural Schedule:

It will take place Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings from 7:45 a.m. to 8:35 a.m.:

- Grade 7s on Tuesday mornings

- Grade 8s on Wednesday mornings

- Grade 6s on Thursday mornings

Please be punctual so we can maximize our time on the court. Doors will open at 7: 45 a.m. and close at 7:55 a.m.

We look forward to seeing students come out for some volleyball fun!

• Our Grade 7s will be going on their Movie trip this Tuesday, May 17^th!

• DV Snack Days will be happening on Thursdays!

Again, we will be selling a variety of snacks during the first 15 minutes of both the first and second lunch breaks.  Students will be able to purchase snacks before heading outside for their play time. Prices will range from $0.50 to $2.00.  The snacks available may change from week to week, but will include items such as:  granola bars, fruit snacks, chips, cheese and crackers, freezies, gatorade, juice boxes, cookies, muffins, etc.

Proceeds from this fundraiser will be used for our Grade 8 Graduation.

Thank you for supporting this fundraiser!

• Thanks to our School Council Chairs, Don Valley is having Pizza Days! Our Pizza Days will be on: May 13^th, May 27^th, June 10^th, and June 24^th.  Our first Pizza day was last Friday!  Due to our amazing Grade 8 student leaders, the pizza distribution went smoothly!

• Although the pizza has already been ordered for May, our School Council has agreed to open up Pizza orders for June.  Last day for Pizza orders will be Thursday, June 2^nd. Kindly understand that there will not be an extension to this last date as our School Council Chairs need time to make the orders.  Please see the attachments for more information and how do complete your online payments.  DV Pizza Day 202.V2[21907].pdf   Cash Online Instructions.pdf 

• Our Grade 8 Graduation Trip to Camp White Pine in June has been approved by our Superintendent!  Please remember that the next deposit is due on Wednesday, May 25, 2022.  Cash Online Instructions.pdf 

• SAVE THE DATE: Our Grade 8 Graduation will be on Tuesday, June 28^th!  Please save the date!  More information to come!

• If you are moving and your child will not be attending Don Valley for the 2022-2023 school year, would you kindly let us know? We are planning for the next school year so this information would be very helpful. Please see the attached form.  Are You Moving.pdf 

We have our Science Centre trips for our school this week! Our Grade 7s will be going on Wed., May 4^th, our Grade 8s will be going on Thurs., May 5^th, and our Grade 6s will be going on Fri., May 6^th.

Science Olympics

Ms. Tatum and Mme Hambleton would like to congratulate all members of this year's Don Valley Science Olympics Teams! Although the events were online again and there were some frustrations with timing, buzzers, and the ever-present cry of "the WIFI went out", Don Valley's teams participated with enthusiasm, teamwork, and creativity! Out of the 23 grade 8 teams competing across the city, Don Valley demonstrated strong finishes in the following categories:

Chemistry Team (8A/B) - 4th

Engineering Team (8C/D) - 4th

General Knowledge Team (8A/B) - 4th

Technology Team (8C/D) - 6th

Math Team (8A/B) - 8th

Junior Achievement comes to Don Valley!

On Wednesday April 20th, our Grade 7 students participated in the "Dollars With Sense" program delivered by volunteers from Salesforce.  This 90-minute, interactive, virtual workshop helps young learners develop personal money management skills and apply them to their daily lives.  Students found out how they can make informed consumer decisions and understand different money management practices. 

**Due to a scheduling conflict, Mme. Sibai's 7A class had this presentation on Thursday April 28th.

On Friday April 29th, our Grade 6 students participated in the "Our Business World" program delivered by volunteers from Dell.  This 90-minute, interactive, virtual workshop focussed on the power of Canadian entrepreneurial spirit in a free enterprise system.  Students learned by doing hands-on fun, relevant activities and were able to apply the lessons learned to help them succeed in the future.

Down Syndrome Awareness Day

Please wear blue or yellow for Down Syndrome Awareness Day on March 21st (first day back to school). Every year on March 21, World Down Syndrome Day is observed to promote public awareness about Down syndrome. For this year's World Syndrome Day, we are asking students and staff to wear yellow and blue, the two Down Syndrome colours, to school on Monday, March 21 to show our support!

Don Valley Spirit Wear - order #2!

 There have been some parents who felt that the sizing of the clothes were either too big or too small.  Unfortunately, we cannot do exchanges or refund due to the Don Valley logo on the clothes. We, however, will be doing round two for orders if parents or staff would like to do another order.  The Cash Online payment option has been set up for our families/staff from Friday, March 11th until Friday, March 25th.  Please CLICK HERE for the order form and sizing guide.

Summer School

 Forest Manor PS will be offering In Person Summer School for current Kindergarten to Grade 8 students.  Registration will be on a first come first serve basis.  The summer school focus will be on learning literacy and numeracy skills through STEAM/STEM and Social Justice education. To secure a spot for your child, please register now.  

Virtual Learning for 2022/2023

The Virtual Learning Registration Form for Elementary and Secondary students who would like to register for Virtual Learning for the 2022-2023 school year is live and will remain open until Monday, March 21 at 11:59 p.m. 

Information on Virtual Learning elementary can be found at the link below:

https://www.tdsb.on.ca/Registration-for-Virtual-Learning-2022-23/Elementary

Freedom School Presentations Coming to us soon!

Please save the dates: March 31st and May 5th!  Please see the attachment for more information. These fantastic presentations come to you from our awesome School Council.  We are working with one of our feeder schools, Brian Public School, to share some really great presentations on Anti-Black Racism and How to speak with your child/ren about Racism. A Zoom link for each presentation will be shared closer to the date. We hope that many families will join us!  Freedom school series poster.jpg

We had a full week! On Tuesday, our Superintendent visited our school and walked around to see our students learning in our different classrooms.  On Thursday we had a special speaker, Aubrey Noronha (www.hellohope.ca). His 'Colour Blind 1.0' presentation was virtual but extremely engaging. Aubrey taught our students about racism, micro-aggressions, and how to become actively anti-racist! 

Today, we had another school assembly to recognize our wonderful students.  Students were recognized in the following categories:

• Most Improved
• Character Education (Kindness & Caring, Teamwork, Fairness)
• Honour Roll (80%+ average on the Term 1 Report Card)

Our students and staff were excited to receive their Don Valley Spirit Gear today!

Our students with IEPs (Individual Education Plans) brought home an envelope for their parents/guardians with updated IEPs or updated page 5s if there were no revisions to the IEP.

Today, we finished our first 3 days of online learning. Our staff is very happy to see our students online! Many of our students have expressed their desire to be back in school and we feel the same. We look forward to seeing our students again soon! Next week Friday (January 14th) is a PA- Professional Activity day for our staff so our students will not be online for school.

https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/benefits/recovery-caregiving-benefit.htmlnt...

Don Valley Spirit Wear

Save the Date!

We will be having a Scholastic Virtual Book Fair on November 22nd to December 3rd!  All funds raised will be utilized to buy more books for our library.  We look forward to promoting the joy of reading and to be able to buy more books for our students to borrow from our DV library!  We look forward to hearing students' voices about their favourite books/genres!

Progress Report Cards

Progress Report Cards will be going home on Monday, November 15th.  If your child has an IEP (Individual Education Plan), another consultation sheet will be emailed to you.  After reviewing the Progress Report, please let your child's homeroom teacher know if you would like to see some changes to your child's IEP.  We value your feedback! 

Grade 8 to 9 Transition Night:

Over 90 participants attended our Grade 8 High School Information Night!  It was a great session to learn about the transition from Grade 8 to Grade 9.  We look forward to working with our Grade 8 families so that the transition is smooth! Please contact your Grade 8 teachers or me if you have any questions.

Grade 8 to 9 Transition Night Presentation

Choices Guide 2021-22

Choices Placemat

Optional Attendance Form

-Thank you so much for your generosity with our Terry Fox fundraiser!  We cannot thank you enough for significantly contributing to the fight against cancer!  Our goal this year was to raise $1500 but we raised $2000.30!

-We are working to bring more opportunities to our wonderful students. We have finished our first week of training for the 2021 Dragon Dash! Over 80 students signed up to train for this Don Valley wide cross country race. We will be training for the next few weeks in preparation for the big race taking place on Thursday November 18th. We are so excited to have our students begin to safely participate in extracurricular activities here at Don Valley!  Thank you goes to Mr. Allen and Mr. Kim for being the lead teachers for Cross Country!

-Our basketball nets will be up starting next week!  We had a school assembly to discuss COVID-safety procedures that must be followed as we are now in a place where we will gradually be providing more activities for our students!

-Picture Day will take place on Friday, November 5th.  Students will take individual pictures, but we will not be taking class pictures at this time.  Each class will be called down to a very open area like our cafeteria or gym where each student will be able to be socially distanced and take their individual pictures.  Our students will be able to unmask when it is their time to take their picture and then put on their mask right after their session.  We are asking that our Virtual Students in Mme Parenteau's class to take this opportunity to come to school to take their pictures.  We have 3-4pm (after school) open for our Virtual Students so that our virtual students will not be exposed to other students or staff. Mme Parenteau is excited to meet our Virtual Students in-person on that day!

Unfortunately, students have been going home sick this week. Thank you to our parents for following the recommendations given to us by Toronto Public Health.  Please note that all students who are picked up due to illness receive an attestation/back-to-school form that needs to be completed before they return to us; however, we have also attached this form for you if your child stays home due to illness. There is also an opportunity to receive a Sick Kid's saliva test with instructions if more convenient for you.

Attestation Form for Return to School

Save the date:  We will be having a Grade 8 - High School Information Night for our families with children in Grade 8 on Wednesday, November 3rd at 7pm. We hope to see you at this workshop since important information will be shared!

It was very nice to meet with our parents/guardians during our first School Council Meeting last Wednesday evening.  If you were not able to attend this meeting, our meeting agenda and notes are posted here on our school website (check the DV School Council page).  

The Chair and Co-Chairs for 2021-2022 are:

Other Reminders:

• Please note that students are being asked to bring a litterless lunch.  Whatever is not eaten, or wrappers/garbage will need to be taken back home.
• We had an assembly about Anti-Bullying with our students.  We discussed the many ways in which bullying is presented- verbal, physical, social, and cyber.  Ask them to tell you about it!  We continue to remind students about responsible use of technology and social media. It is always wise to monitor your child's online activities.  We appreciate your support in keeping your child/ren safe! 
• We hope you had a nice time connecting with your child/ren's teachers for our Curriculum Night this week.  The teachers either called every parent this week or had a Zoom meeting with their students' parents/guardians on Thursday October 7th.  You should have received curriculum handouts emailed to you by your homeroom teacher.

• There are too many students who are not ready for school (no health screening completed).  Parents/guardians, we are asking you to kindly complete the health screening every morning, and either complete the NOW app or sign the hardcopy of the screening sheet. Every student was given a hardcopy of the health screening sheet just in case you have difficulty with the NOW app. Please remember that if the health screening is not completed, your child/ren cannot enter the school with their class. 
• IEP consultations have been sent home.  We are asking parents/guardians to please respond to their child/ren's teacher/s with your input by Friday, October 1st.  We believe in a strong parents/guardians-teacher/staff relationships so that we are able to get the best from your child/ren!  We like to see our students shine!
• Big Brothers and Big Sisters is offering a Girls' Empowerment Group and a "Game On" Boys' Group.  Don Valley has been partnering with this fabulous group for the past 6 years.  It will be first come first serve!  We look forward to having these wonderful programs at Don Valley.  Due to COVID protocols right now, the programs will begin online then once we are able, the program will come to Don Valley in-person.

• Girl’s Empowerment Online Application: https://analytics.clickdimensions.com/cn/anc2a/bbbst-gg-little-app
• Game On! Online Application: https://analytics.clickdimensions.com/cn/anc2a/bbbst-go-little-app

Our board is partnering with SickKids!  We are now part of a COVID-19 SALIVA TESTING PROGRAM.  If your child is not feeling well and has one or more symptoms of COVID, you are now able to take a testing kit home and bring it back to Don Valley. This kit has been extended to not only our students but our staff and our Don Valley community. SickKids will be picking up completed kits daily and the results will be available for you in 24-48 hours! You can find out more HERE.  Please also review the attachments that were emailed to you! 

Parking Lot Safety is Everyone's Responsibility

When dropping off students, please do not stop at the front of the school.  It is important that cars drive through to the side doors (near Exits 2 and 3) rather than stopping in the circular driveway which causes a back-up onto Don Mills Road. As well, the drive-way is one-way only; avoid driving the opposite direction. We can prevent accidents by working together.