Thank you to all students who have brought in books for our Student Book Exchange.  If you would still like to participate, it’s not too late!  This Monday, March 2nd is the last day for students to bring in gently used school-aged books and magazines.  Bring in as many as you like.   Students participating in the Book Exchange will have over 1800 books and magazines to choose from starting this Tuesday until Friday.  All books will be sorted by category to help students select which books they would like to take home.  Students who have donated more than 5 books will be able to select up to 5 books during their initial class visit on Tuesday or Wednesday.  Additional books can be selected on Thursday and Friday.

It’s March!  This month’s Eco Theme is Turn off Computers and Monitors.  If you have a laptop/desktop at home, encourage your kids to turn them off when they’re not being used.

It’s time to remind children about being safe in our community! It is never too early or too late to teach children the importance of personal safety. Common sense, communication and consistency are the keys. Remind children to alert a responsible adult if something strange happens that makes them feel uncomfortable. Remember, crime prevention is everyone’s responsibility. For more information on this subject, visit www.yrp.ca. Here’s what children need to know:

• Their name, age, telephone number, address, city and province. This can be done through rhyme or song.
• How to contact their parents at any time, by memorizing cell or work numbers.
• How and under what circumstances to call 911.
• To never approach or enter a stranger’s vehicle. A responsible adult would never ask a child for directions or any other question for that matter.
• Make sure they know they have a right to say “no” to an adult, especially when the adult is asking them to do something they have been taught is wrong or feels uncomfortable. Reminding children of this right is important because children are taught from a young age to respect adults.
• To always tell parents where they will be and to never enter someone’s home without their parent’s permission.
• If home alone, never admit it when answering the phone. Never answer a knock at the door or speak through it. Adults can be very persuasive. Teach your child to call you if there is a knock at the door and if they fear for their safety, teach them to call 911. Make sure they know that police officers are there to help them and would not get mad if it were a false alarm.
• If they think they are being followed or are in danger they should run home or to a public place. If someone grabs them, they should try to get away, yelling and screaming while doing so.
• It is important to play in safe areas, never take shortcuts and stick with a buddy whenever possible.

International Women’s Day – York Region District School Board is proud to recognize International Women’s Day. In 1977, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution calling on member states to proclaim a day for women’s rights and international peace. Following the United Nations’ lead, Canada chose March 8 as International Women’s Day. International Women’s Day 2020 campaign theme is #EachforEqual, check it out!

PODCASTS are here! YRDSB launched it’s very own podcast, the first of its kind in Ontario, in February 2020. They have been releasing weekly episodes of the show, called Tune In YRDSB, since February 7. This will be scaled back to bi-weekly moving forward. Each of our episodes so far have focused on Black History Month and the accomplishments of Black system and community leaders. They look forward to continuing this conversation in the coming months, while adding additional topics that are relevant to the YRDSB community. Tune In YRDSB is available on most major podcasting networks, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify. We have been asked to share this information with parents so they can continue to have these meaningful conversations, and share this important information. Parents can also subscribe on your favourite podcast platform.

Please remember to send your child to school every day with appropriate winter clothing for outdoor play including: winter jacket / hat / mitts / boots / neck warmer / scarf / snow pants.  It is always a good idea to pack extra socks and pants in your child’s backpack.

A gentle reminder to all families that the instructional day begins @ 8:30am and that supervision begins @ 8:15am. We ask any students that arrive at school after 8:30am to please report to the office. We ask all parents / guardians to notify the office of any changes in dismissal routines.

School bus service may be cancelled due to inclement weather, extreme temperatures and/or poor road conditions. A bus cancellation message will be available at School Bus City, or by calling 1-877-330-3001, or by following @YRDSB on Twitter. When buses are cancelled, the delivery of school lunches will be canceled and rescheduled for another day. Students will need to bring a lunch on those days.