Middle School - November 30, 2023

GLAD Fridays - Cozy TYS Flannel Pants are Permitted 

  • On GLAD Fridays students may now wear cozy TYS flannel pants, in addition to athletic pants.

  • Students can purchase the cozy TYS flannel pants from The York Shop on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 11:30am - 12:30pm or parents can complete The York Shop form.

  • This is not a casual day but a York School branded spirit athletic day. Students coming into school in casual wear will be given a uniform slip. At three uniform infractions, parents will be called.

TPH School Immunization Program Clinic - December 1

  • Grade 7 & 8 students who are participating in the vaccination clinic tomorrow should wear a short sleeve York athletic shirt tomorrow with black athletic pants, TYS flannel pants or their regular uniform bottoms.

Dressing for the Cold Weather - Reminder

  • As the wintry weather arrives we remind students about suitable clothing i.e. jackets, hats, gloves/mitts and footwear for outdoor recess.

  • Students are encouraged to keep a pair of indoor shoes at school, either black dress shoes or running shoes. Students are not permitted to Uggs or boots to class.

Middle and Senior School Play - November 30 to December 2

The Learning Lounge

  • Ms. Robertson and Ms. Rhemtulla have started "The Learning Lounge" (aka Homework Club) on Mondays and Thursdays after school from 3:30pm to 4:15pm.

  • Anyone is welcome to come and get questions answered, get help with any subject or work in a quiet space to complete homework with teacher support. Students can stay for as much or as little time as they want.

Halloween Festivities - Prize Winners

  • The prize winners for the door decorations and pumpkin carving are as follows:
    8A - Wednesday, December 6 - Bonus Lunch Out
    6B/8B - Thursday, December 7 - Pizza Lunch
    8C - Friday, December 8 - Hot Chocolate Morning

Forest of reading

We are excited to introduce the 2023-24 Forest of Reading program to our middle school students. The Forest of Reading is a Canada-wide program designed to inspire a love of reading and promote books by Canadian authors.

The "forest" is made up of several different "trees" (book lists), with each tree featuring 10 books nominated as "the best" of Canadian literature. The trees for our middle school students are Red Maple (fiction) and Yellow Cedar (nonfiction).

Students are invited to choose which books they’d like to read from the Red Maple or Yellow Cedar nominated booklists. If they read at least 5 of the books listed on the tree, they’ll be eligible to vote for their favourite at our school Voting Day on Tuesday April 23.

The Canada-wide winners of each “tree” will be announced at the Festival of Trees, to be held on May 15 at the Harbourfront Centre. Students who have read at least 5 books are welcome to join our field trip to the Festival!

Visit our library Forest of Reading page for more details about the program, including book talks from our Forest of Reading teacher ambassadors.

Interested students are invited to sign up for the program by filling out the Forest of Reading signup form.

Happy reading!

For more information or questions, please contact:

Nicholas Regner (nregner@yorkschool.com), Jesse Grosman (jgrosman@yorkschool.com), Beth Wolfe (bwolfe@yorkschool.com) or Jennifer Robertson (jrobertson@yorkschool.com).

Executive Function Skills - Tip of the Month!

Time Management

What does having “good” time management skills mean for children?

  • They can estimate how long a task will take.

  • They can plan their time accordingly to complete the task by a specified due date. 

Helping your children at home with time management: 3 daily prompts

1. What homework do you have? (planning/prioritizing)
2. When are you going to start? (task initiation)
3. How long do you think it will take? (time management)

You can help your children build awareness of how long it takes to complete a task by using a timer. For example, if they have estimated they need 30 minutes to complete their design homework, put a timer on for them and see how long it takes. After practicing this multiple times, they will begin to learn how long tasks actually take them to complete!

As a parent, you can use the timer on your phone or an oven timer. Students can also use a timer themselves, they each have the Marinara Pomodoro Timer installed on their laptops.

Video Link on the Pomodoro Technique

From the Middle School Student Support Team

STUDENT LIFE & BELONGING

Rainbow Railroad - Mark your calendars!

For our Human Rights Day focus this year we are partnering with Rainbow Railroad and supporting their “60 in 60” campaign. The Rainbow Railroad is a non-profit organization that helps LGBTQI+ individuals leave unsafe situations - whether from forced displacement or persecution. This year, Rainbow Railroad is hoping to fundraise in the final 60 days of 2023 to assist “60 people get to safety through emergency evacuation, 60 people receive life-saving financial assistance, and 60 people receive information services, psychosocial and community supports.”

To donate directly to support York’s team page for the 60 in 60 campaign, please click HERE.

Further fundraising initiatives

Candy Gram Fundraiser - Monday and Tuesday

On Monday and Tuesday, December 4 and 5, students can purchase candy grams in the cafeteria from 8:00am - 8:45am, as well as at lunch, to send a message of kindness to other members of our community. Grams will cost 1/$1 and 3/$2 and be delivered through homeroom teachers and advisors at the end of the week.

Assembly - Wednesday

On Wednesday, December 6, we will welcome the CEO of Rainbow Railroad, Kimahli Powell, to speak to our community about the human rights violations that exist globally toward members of the LGBTQI+ community and the work that Rainbow Railroad is doing to provide access to safety for individuals experiencing violence, oppression and discrimination.

Community Breakfast Fundraiser - Thursday

Finally, we encourage all members of our community to join us for a community breakfast fundraiser on Thursday, December 7 from 8:00am - 8:45am in the cafeteria. 

A hot breakfast, as well as donuts and iced coffee, will be served and for every $10 spent, student and staff names will be entered into a raffle to win Leafs or Raptors tickets!
All proceeds from our fundraisers will go to Rainbow Railroad. 

Questions? Please contact Erin Porter, Director, Student Life at eporter@yorkschool.com

Hanukkah Party

Thursday, December 7 @ Lunch in Room 204

For students in Grades 6 - 12, all are welcome to join the Jewish Culture Club on Thursday, December 7 for Latkes & Laughter!

Questions? Please contact JCC Advisor - Adina Fuss (afuss@yorkschool.com)