Dear Parents/Guardians:

We’d like to begin this month’s newsletter by congratulating the many students who were recognized for demonstrating

Honesty, our school board character Trait for March. These students serve as positive role models for their fellow peers and

are an inspiration to the entire school. We continue to challenge all of our students to be leaders, in particular as we try to

eliminate waste and recyclable materials which are often found on the school yard. We are on track to get Platinum status

again, thanks to Ms. Ramphal and Ms. Grassi.

To support our students’ growth in this endeavor, Ref Aoude’ from the City of Toronto’s Waste Management Services visited

the school and modeled the appropriate reusing, reduction and disposal of waste. Ref also shared a wealth of information with

students and we hope this furthers our work both inside and outside the building.

Our Heritage club led by Ms. Grassi put forth a phenomenal effort for Greek Heritage Month. At the board office celebration,

at the closing ceremonies at East York Collegiate, at Crescent Town ES as part of twinning the schools and a cultural exchange

program, at the Hellenic Home for the Aged, at our very own Sharing Assembly, this troupe made us so proud. We kept hearing

accolades for their performances and they truly inspired us all this month to build equity and inclusion. In recognition of Greek

Heritage Month, students learned that you don’t have to be greek to greek dance. OPA! More importantly, this continues our

critical conversation in learning of one another, embracing one another and respecting each other’s voice, culture and heritage.

Yet another memorable highlight from this month came to us courtesy of the Fip Top where students were able to have diverse

conversations about mental health, physical fitness, and yoga.

We want to thank the many parents who support pizza lunch, pancake lunch, step in just to lend a hand, as we continue to

collaborate together in support of students. Nutrition, rest, overall wellness in addition to strong academic and study habits

will all go a long way to ensure student success. As educators and parents, we will continue to support and reassure our young

learners as they continue on this path.

Finally we want to strongly encourage parents to attend our upcoming evening parent session on Ant-Bullying. Please see the

attached flyer. We thank you in advance for your support and look forward to your participation and valuable insights.

It’s truly an honour to serve the students, staff and community at Presteign Heights ES.

Sincerely,

Peppi Kondilis-Minos

Hispanic Heritage Month Latin-America History Month Genocide Awareness Month Sikh Heritage Month 1 Laudation of the Mother of God Orthodox Russian 1 Easter Sunday 2 Easter Monday 6 Holy Friday (Julian calendar) 7 Rwanda Genocide Memorial Day 7 World Health Day WHO 8 Easter (Pascha) (Julian calendar) TBA Memorial to Christ’s Death Jehovah’s Witness 11 International Day of Pink 12 Yom HaShoah 13 Vaisakhi Sikhism 14 Vaisahki (Tamil New Year) Taoist 20 International Day of Silence International 20 Pentecost 21 First Day of Ridvan Baha’i 21 Groundation Day Rastafari 22 Earth Day UN TBA The Recognition of the True Puh Muslim 24 Armenian Genocide Memorial Day 25 Feast of St. Mark 28 National Day of Mourning Canada 29 Ninth Day of Ridvan* Baha’i April’s Character Trait is Co-operation

April 2018

Presteign Heights Elementary School Proud to be a Platinum Eco-School 2570 St. Clair Ave. East, Toronto, Ontario M4B 1M3

T:416.396.2430 F:416.396.2347

Peppi Kondilis-Minos, Principal

Lucy Giannotta, Superintendent

Sheila Cary-Meagher, Trustee

Email: Presteign@tdsb.on.ca

School website:

http://schoolweb.tdsb.on.ca/presteign/

April is Latin-America History Month at the TDSB

The theme for Latin-America History Month (LAHM)

2018 is Recognizing our Diverse Spiritualities Through

Our Stories: Learn About Our Many Roots. Latin-

America/Abya Yala heritage is shared by more than

5,000 students across TDSB. Encompassing the peoples

of 21 different countries, linguistically, it represents

over 500 hundred different languages spoken, including

Indigenous and African languages such as Kuna and

Garifuna.

April is Hispanic Heritage Month at the TDSB

In March 2010, the Board of Trustees voted to designate April

of each year as Hispanic Heritage Month in the Toronto

District School Board. This month marks the celebration of the

vibrant tapestry of cultures, histories and traditions that is

shared by people of Hispanic heritage, as well as recognition

of their many contributions not only within the TDSB

community but across the globe.

April is Sikh Heritage Month at the TDSB

In March 2016, Trustees voted to designate April of each year as Sikh Heritage Month,

making TDSB the first school board in Canada to do so, and matching recognition by the

Province of Ontario in 2013.

According to the Sikh Heritage Month Act, "Sikh Canadians have lived in Ontario since

the middle of the twentieth century. They represent a growing and dynamic

population. April is an important month for the Sikh community. In this month, Sikh

Canadians celebrate Vaisakhi, which marks the creation of the Khalsa and the Sikh

articles of faith. The Province of Ontario recognizes the important contributions that

Sikh Canadians have made to Ontario’s social, economic, political and cultural fabric."

Sikh Heritage Month provides an opportunity for staff, students and community

members to learn more about Sikh traditions and history, and celebrate the many

contributions of Sikh Canadians. It is also a time to reflect on both the struggles and

accomplishments of the many communities that contribute to Canada’s rich cultural

mosaic. From being turned away on Canada’s shores during the historic Komagata

Maru incident in 1914 to the many Canadians, such as award winning Canadian Sikh

Women authors such a Rupi Kaur and Lily Singh, we must continue to progress.

Elementary Summer School Elementary summer programs increase engagement and build self-confidence in our students. This summer, from July 4 – 27, we are opening schools across the city to help build reading, writing and math skills in students from Kindergarten to Grade 8. Visit

www.tdsb.on.ca/summer for a complete list of participating schools. @TDSB_ConEd

BADMINTON TOURNAMENTS

Throughout March in Phys. Ed. class, Mr. C. had the junior classes working on improving their badminton skills and participating in many games of doubles. In the last week of March, the four classes each had their own Doubles Tournament. Everyone picked a partner and teams were then drawn out of a hat to face each other, with the winner moving on.

After many rounds of play in each class, each class tournament came down to a final for each room: *In Room 4, Michael/Carter defeated George/Areez *In Portable 3, Dimitri/Haralambos defeated Stavros/Zach & Mayah/Ida in a round-robin *In Room 8, Carolyn/Tori defeated Maya/Trina *In Room 9, Lexi/Maggie defeated Matthew/Roussos

CHAMPIONS TOURNAMENT In this tournament on April 4th 4 very skilled Doubles teams were involved and, like we saw all month, there were great rallies and amazing point shots, this time in front of four classes of screaming fans. *In the Grade 4 championship game, Michael/Carter defeated Dimitri/Haralambos *In the Grade 5 championship game, Lexi/Maggie defeated Carolyn/Tori SCHOOL CHAMPIONS GAME In this final game to determine the best Doubles team in the school,

Grade 4 champions Michael/Carter faced Grade 5 champions Lexi/Maggie in front of a packed house. The title went to Lexi/Maggie after yet another thrilling game. Congratulations to all our players, no matter how far you went in the tournament. Everyone is better player now than they were in February!

Toronto's Annual School Cleanup Day

Clean Toronto Together Event

Friday, April 20th is the City of Toronto’s School Yard Clean-up day. Join over 200,000 residents, students, businesses,

organizations and community groups as we come together for the 15th annual city-wide cleanup of public spaces.

However due to the Primary Concert, we will do a clean up

on Monday, April 23rd

. As well, all students will be taking

home a tree seedling that can be planted by the end of the day.

Thank you Ms. Brewers for your hard work in making this

happen.

Recycling Presentations

Presteign learned how to sort garbage. We now know

how to put garbage in the right spot. The City of

Toronto came do run workshops for all our students so

that everyone can so their part to recycle and dispose

of garbage in an environmentally conscious way.

TDSB Earth Hour! – Presteign and all TDSB schools

participated in a our board wide Earth Hour from 2:00

to 3:00pm on March 23rd, 2018. Thank you everyone

for doing your part and serving as positive role models

for our students.

Easter Egg Hunt

We are still finding eggs in the library. They were

hidden so well that they keep turning up. Thanks goes

to Ms. Guercio for organizing a relay team effort to

ensure everyone got an opportunity to find some eggs.

Our Kindergarten students were so excited.

Literacy Games

Many thanks to Ms. Grassi and to our parents for

getting a great parent engagement opportunity

back up and running again. Parents have been so

fantastic to offer up some time to create these

opportunities for kids. Thank you so much! The

Presteign students love you coming in and playing

games, reading and using oral language to

communicate.

International Day of Pink

On April 11 we celebrate The International Day of Pink. A day of action, born when a youth in a high school in Cambridge, Nova Scotia was

bullied because he wore a pink shirt to school. His fellow students decided to stand up to bullying; and hundreds of students came to school

wearing pink to show support for diversity and stopping discrimination, gender-based bullying, homophobia and transphobia.

Our students and staff will be wearing pink in support of diversity, and our Grade 5 students will be participating in a TDSB sponsored event

at East York Memorial Arena.

The International Day of Pink is more than just a symbol of a shared belief in celebrating diversity - it's also a commitment to being open

minded, to being understanding of differences and to learning to respect each other.

Welcome to April, parents!

We're excited to share a brief update with you in this newsletter but please look out for a dedicated

update from us in the coming days. There are a lot of endeavours planned for the next few months

and we're bursting with excitement to share them with you.

Coming up soon, we'll be doing our part to honour Earth Day activities happening globally the week

of April 16th. Our Home and School Committee, together with Ms. Minos on behalf of the school, will

be distributing White Pine and White Spruce tree seedlings to each student and staff member to take

home. Our hope is that students and faculty will plant these beautiful trees in their own gardens in

support of nature and fostering a green planet. A donation box will be set up in the Main Office for

those that wish to donate to this fantastic cause and help H+S recoup some of the costs. All donated

money will go right back to where it's needed most: enhancing our students' school experience.

More on this in our next newsletter, but please save the date for our Spring Fun Fair on May 26th

from 11AM to 2PM. This family friendly event is always packed with activities, good eats and a ton of

great prizes. Speaking of which, we are calling for Silent Auction prizing. We'd love to expand our

assortment of prizing beyond products to include experiences for families to bid on. Think of

anything that would be considered priceless such as tours, games or events that would create

unique and memorable experiences for families. Do you work at a really cool place that you could

offer up a tour of? Do you have access to professional sporting event tickets? All ideas and prize

options will be considered.

Lastly, here are a few important dates to jot down...

April 5: pancake lunch

April 19: pizza lunch + hat day

April 25: Bullying workshop 7PM - 8PM, childcare provided and pizza/refreshments served

May 7: H&S/SAC meeting, childcare provided

Look for more from the Home and School Committee later this month.

Home and School Association