May 9

Grandpals Day Tomorrow, Kiss & Ride Reminders, & Movie Night in Celebration of Asian Heritage Month

JICS at a Glance

We've condensed the important highlights for your convenience:

Grandpals Day Tomorrow - 2:00-3:30 pm
Kiss and Ride Reminders - Please review
JICS Movie Night in Celebration of Asian Heritage Month - Thursday, May 16, 3:45-5:45 pm, Register Here
Art & Music Night- Thursday, May 23

Topics covered in this post:

Grandpals Day Tomorrow
Kiss and Drive Reminders
JICS Movie Night in Celebration of Asian Heritage Month
Art Night & Music Night - Thursday, May 23
Kids Who Care Club: Collecting School Supplies for the Christie Street Refugee Welcome Centre
Lunch & Learn with Ellie
Hot Dog Night
Photos from the Week
Upcoming May Events
Upcoming June Events

1. Grandpals Day Tomorrow

Grandpals Day is about creating cherished memories, exploring our school, and bonding over refreshments and snacks. For safety and security reasons and to ensure a smooth afternoon for all, thank you for pre-registering by the due date. Please note that there is no parking on the school property.

Schedule:

2:00

Grandpals arrive and are given a prepared name tag that lists their grandchild’s/ grandchildren’s homeroom class(es).
Grandpals will be provided a handout with the schedule for the afternoon.
After registration, Grandpals will gather in the Gymnasium where Principal, Richard will give a short welcome and share further instructions.
Parent & Student volunteers will accompany Grandpals to the appropriate classrooms to meet their grandchild. If Grandpals have more than one grandchild at the school, Grandpals will be helped to gather each grandchild at their class so they can do activities and tour the school together as a group. There will be lots of volunteers on hand to direct and assist throughout the afternoon. Classroom teachers will speak with the students about their role as “ambassadors.” Parents, it may be helpful if you do the same!

2:15-3:25

Nursery Afternoon Daycare, JK, SK, and Grade 1 students and Grandpals can remain in their classrooms for refreshments and activities or tour the school.
Grade 2 – 6 students & Grandpals can tour around the school, enjoy refreshments in the lunchroom and visit a photobooth to get a souvenir picture taken together.
If Grandpals have grandchildren in both the Nursery-Grade 1 grouping and the Grade 2-6 grouping, they can gather in one of the refreshment rooms listed on the school map.

3:25

All students return to class for dismissal (JK & SK students will gather in the yard)

3:30

Regular dismissal

If a student does not have anyone attending Grandpals Day, they will remain in their classroom with activities to do. They can be included in the afternoon by assisting as a volunteer, hosting visitors in the class. They will be provided with a snack.

2. Kiss and Drive Reminders

There is a staff supervised “Kiss & Drive” drop-off zone at our 45 Walmer Road side from 8:35-8:45am. For everyone’s safety:

Please treat Walmer Road as northbound only during arrival and dismissal.
Parents are asked to drive northbound on Walmer to the school and create a queue of vehicles.
Staff on duty will assist child getting out of the vehicle and walking to their entrance point.
Parents are asked to remain inside the vehicle. Getting out of your vehicle delays the process and may create congestion causing others to arrive late.
Immediately exit the drop-off area once children have entered the school area to ease congestion and maintain flow. Please ensure that your child’s bag/lunch is accessible by your child.
PLEASE DO NOT BLOCK THE DRIVEWAY OF OUR NEIGHBOURS TO THE SOUTH OR NORTH OF 45 WALMER ROAD.
It is the responsibility of parents to share the Kiss & Drive Protocols with all caregivers dropping off their child/ren.
Students/families walking/biking will integrate into the staggered flow into the building/yard as instructed by the staff on duty.

More information about arrival and dismissal and other important information about school policies and procedures can be found in the JICS Parent Handbook: https://www.jicsfamily.com/parenthandbook

3. JICS Movie Night in Celebration of Asian Heritage Month

Thursday, May 16th, 3:45-5:30 pm

JICS Gymnasium

To celebrate Asian Heritage Month, all JICS families are invited to join us for a movie night on Thursday, May 16th from 3:45-5:30 pm in the JICS gymnasium. We will be watching the movie Elemental.

Elemental is an animated film directed by Philip Sohn. On the surface it is a fun, colourful film about the unlikely love between two opposite elements. However, at its core it is an immigrant story that speaks to the universal immigrant experience of making a new life in a new place, and grappling with balancing responsibility to your family and culture while remaining true to yourself.

Here is a link to the documentary about his directing journey and the creation of Elemental (you will need a Disney+ subscription to watch):

Good Chemistry: The Story of Elemental

Children must be accompanied by an adult caregiver (children in daycare can attend with daycare staff). We welcome all family members to attend! Reusable water bottles encouraged. A timeline of the event is below:

3:30 pm: Caregivers pick-up children from school

3:30-3:45 pm: Families welcomed into the servery area for a nut-free snack

3:45 pm: Movie begins in the gymnasium

5:30 pm: Movie ends

To attend, please register below (daycare children are not required to register unless attending with a caregiver).

4.Art Night & Music Night - Thursday, May 23

6:15-6:50pm Art Night (school displays)

7:00-8:30pm Music Night (gym/auditorium)

There is music in the air! Each class, JK to Grade 6, is practicing songs for our annual Music Night held in the J. Fraser Mustard Assembly Hall (our school gym). Please come and enjoy an evening of music-making with the JICS children and their Music Teachers, Suzanne Schwenger and Russell Hersen.

Doors open at 6:15pm and we invite families to arrive anytime (6:15 to 6:30pm) to tour the art on display. JICS Art Teacher, Tara Rousseau has designed a beautiful experience for families. A map will be provided with teacher helpers along the way for a self-guided tour. We ask that families arrive from Walmer Road and stay together (children stay with their parent/s) to appreciate the incredible art created by the children that will be on display throughout the school. The children should be delivered to their classrooms at 6:50pm. Parents will head to the gymnasium at this time and the classes will enter the gymnasium at 7:00pm

The children are asked to wear dark pants, shorts, or skirt and a white top.

All JK to Grade 6 students are part of the Music presentations. Nursery children and families are welcome to attend as audience members.

The Music Program is just over an hour in length, and we ask that you stay for the entire show so that all performers can enjoy a full and attentive audience.

Children will sit with their teachers on the gym floor and parents and guests will be seated in the auditorium seats where the sound will be glorious, and the view is perfect.

There will be a voluntary cash collection at the end of the evening to support the JICS Patrick Harvie Arts Committee in further enriching our arts programs.

5. Kids Who Care Club: Collecting School Supplies for the Christie Street Refugee Welcome Centre

Dear JICS parents,

We are the JICS Kids Who Care club. We are currently running an initiative to collect school supplies for the Christie Street Refugee Welcome Centre, or the CRWC. The CRWC uses these school supplies to give to children staying with them who had to escape dangerous situations without their belongings, to set them up for success when they go to school here. We will accept anything on this list in as large or small quantities as you can give.

Items to donate (only new products please):

Backpacks
Pencils
Sets of pens
Glue sticks
Erasers
Sets of coloured markers
Sets of crayons
Sets of coloured pencils
Scissors
Rulers
Highlighters
Pencil sharpeners
Lined notebooks
Pencil cases
Lunch bags
Water bottles
Binders
Padlocks (for student lockers)
Calculators
Geometry sets
Correction tape (whiteout)
Lined paper

Thank you for reading this. You can put your donations in the reception of the Walmer Road entrance. Delivery will be in early June. We hope that you can donate!

From,

The Kids Who Care Club

6. Lunch & Learn with Ellie

Dear Parents and JICS Community,

The year is fast approaching an end! I have had a wonderful year working with the grade 4/5 classes with both Zoe and Robin delivering Roots of Empathy program. Huge appreciation to our parent volunteers and Tiny Teachers (the babies) Baby Jake and Baby Brooks. I have also been able to work with Judith and the grade 3 class running a small group Social Emotional Learning Lego Club group.

For the last Lunch and Learn of the 2023/2024 school year, we'd love to open it up to your questions! This will be an Ask Me Anything, with Ellie and Chriss. Please send in your questions to elliel@jackmanics.onmicrosoft.com. Date and time of the session will be announced soon.

As always, we look forward to the rich discussion.

Ellie