November 2023 Newsletter

Principal Message

Just a reminder to parents that Progress Report Cards and Kindergarten Communication of Learning will be coming home on November 13. This snapshot will help parents understand their child's early progress so far this year, with a more fulsome report card coming in February to capture the learning from Term 1. Your child's homeroom teacher will also be in touch with you to set up a time for an in-person student-led conference during the week of November 20-24. This Student-led conference is an opportunity for our Grades 1-8 students to show off the great things they are doing in their classrooms this fall, in addition to self-reflecting on goals for the year. If you would like to discuss any concerns with your child's classroom teacher, please connect at a time outside of the Student-led conference. For Kindergarten, parents will be invited into the classroom for 20 minutes in late November or early December so that parents can experience what a day in the life of our youngest students looks like. We look forward to celebrating our learning with you!

Have a Notable November!

Mr. G. DonaldsonPrincipalJohn T. Tuck P.S.

Social Media

So that you are aware, we have deactivated our X account (formerly known as Twitter). It is not a platform that is being used by many stakeholders, therefore we felt it was time to remove the @johnttuckps handle from the platform. We will continue to operate our Instagram page using the handle @johnttuckps.

Lunchroom Supervisors

We have had a couple of Lunchroom Supervisors leave the position this month, and we currently have several openings. Our JTT Lunchroom Supervisors are responsible for supervising our students both inside and outside during our scheduled break times. This paid position requires an updated Police Check that includes a vulnerable sector screening. If you are interested in joining our Lunchroom Supervisor Team at Tuck please email Mrs.Klomp at klompm@hdsb.ca or visit the office.

Office Staffing Update

We are pleased to welcome Mrs Mistry to our team as our full time General Administrative Assistant in the office. Mrs Mistry comes to us from Mohawk Gardens and we are pleased to have her as part of our office team as of Monday, November 6th.

It’s Scholastic Book Fair time!

Mark your calendars! John T. Tuck is thrilled to be hosting a Scholastic Book Fair November 20-24. This is an event that students and teachers alike look forward to every year. Money raised from the book fair will continue to support new and ongoing school initiatives including purchasing new books to enhance our collection in the Learning Commons. Monday and Tuesday will be wish list days where students will tour the book fair and create wish lists to bring home and share with parents. Wednesday to Friday will be purchase days where students can bring money to school to make purchases at the book fair with their class during their designated class time. Parents can shop at the book fair too! In addition to being open to students during the school day, the book fair will also be open from 4:00 to 7:00 pm on Thursday and from 9:00-11:00 am on Friday during Student Led Conferences. You will find book previews, videos, and featured books information too. Click here for some Scholastic trailers!

Book Fair Volunteers

This event relies on the help of many parent volunteers to be successful. Parents help students with generating wish lists, shopping and making purchases. We also require help with set up on November 17 and with clean up on November 24. To volunteer here is the link to sign up: Book Fair volunteer sign up . If you have any questions, please contact Ms Blanche Mills at millsb@hdsb.ca or in the Learning Commons (Tuesday, Thursday, Friday).

EQAO Results

Students currently in Grades 4 and 7 were sent their individual results on last year's EQAO assessment. This assessment is a snapshot of learning for our students across all years in Primary and Junior. Our results in Grade 3 are: Reading, 93, Writing, 82, Mathematics, 78 and Grade 6: Reading, 92, Writing, 88, Mathematics, 69. These scores represent the percentage of students who acheived at or above the provincial standard. All of our results are higher than the HDSB average, and Provincial averages. For more information, you can visit eqao.com. We are very proud of the hard work of our students and staff to help students meet curriculum expectations in all grades. This year's assessment for Grade 3 and 6 will be in June.

Grade 8 to 9 Transition

Nelson will be having their Grade 8 parent night on Thursday November 16 starting at 6:00pm. Please join them to hear all about the transition to high school, and ask any questions you may have. As you continue to have conversations with your kids at home about what the next 4 years may look like (what school will they be attending, what course they may want to take, etc.), please consider reviewing the "Guide to Secondary School" that the HDSB has provided. In this guide you will find information about various course codes, pathways, and more. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Ms Simmelink at the school.

Costume Parade - October 31

This is a reminder that we are having a Costume Parade for all of our students from Kindergarten to Grade 8 on October 31. Students can come to school dressed in their costumes for the first two periods of the day, or can wear Orange and Black. It is expected that students in costume have a change of clothes so that they are out of their costumes by the end of first nutrition break. As a rule, students should not be wearing any masks during the morning, except for during the parade itself. In addition, please think carefully about the props that you send with costumes to ensure that nothing gets damaged, or nothing is too scary for our younger children, could be used as a weapon, or is insensitive to ethnic, religious, racial or gender identity groups.

If you do not celebrate Halloween and do not wish to have your child participate in the Halloween parade, please let your child's teacher know in advance so that we can organize an alternate activity.

Parents are welcome to watch the parade from our Gymnasium. We will have benches and chairs set up in the middle of the large gym and the parade will go around the outside of the gym. We will have Door #15 and Door #9 open for parents to access the gymnasium, rather than come through the school hallways. We plan on starting the parade at 9:30am, just after announcements.

We look forward to some spooktacular fun on the 31st!

Calling all 3 Year Olds

Calling all three-year olds to the Halton District School Board! In October and November, the HDSB is hosting Kindergarten Open Houses in Acton, Georgetown, Milton, Burlington and Oakville for families to help make this first school experience a positive one. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3RjMNDI

Parent Council

Parent Council is looking forward to meeting again on Thursday November 9th at 7pm in the school library. All parents interested in attending are encouraged to join us in person. We will be discussing fundraising options for the year, review the council budget and share about what is happening at our school.

Nature's Near

Grade 6's are taking advantage of the Nature's Near organization and learning about Coyotes this month. The students will take part in a virtual informational session that will help them understand Coyote, their habitat, behaviour and how we humans can safely live with them. The second session will be an outdoor coyote food-web game that gives the students a hands on understanding of how the coyote survives in Halton. Later in November we will participate in a two part virtual session with Ontario Parks where we will learn that a community scientist can be anyone who observes biodiversity around them – everything from a plant growing in a sidewalk crack to a wetland teeming with life.

Inclement Weather

That time of year is upon us again. Please take the time to familiarize yourself with the HDSB’s Inclement Weather Policy. The policy can be found on www.hdsb.ca by clicking on the Parent Information tab. Please ensure your child is always dressed appropriately to go outside. The threshold to stay inside during cold weather is -20C, with wind chill.

Photo Retake Day

Just a reminder that Photo retake day is Wednesday, November 1st starting at 9:30am. If you missed our first Photo Day, or were not happy with the pictures, we will be having retakes in the morning.

Parent Support with Technology

Parents, you can help us by supporting and modelling appropriate use of technology in order to encourage your child to focus on academics in school during the school day. Parents are requested to:

1. Refrain from texting your children throughout the day, and call the office for emergency messages to be relayed. If your child texts you during class time, please respond with “please go to the office, talk to an adult there and use the office phones.” Trust us. When you text your child during class time and or accept texts from them, you are implicitly teaching them that they do not have to pay attention in class, or use the adults in the building to help them problem solve.

2. Buy a calculator for your child to use in Math class.

3. Make after school arrangements with your children in advance.

4. Remind your children of the appropriate uses of technology and social media, while reviewing and monitoring their online activity outside of school hours.

5. Encourage your child to keep his/her personal device locked/secure when at school and to not share their combinations or passwords with anyone else.

6. Counsel their children that devices brought to school are their responsibility. If items are lost, broken, or stolen, the school will do everything it can to help find it and/or solve the problem, but in the end, the replacement cost rests with the student who owns it.

Days of Significance this Month

All Saints Day - November 1

Crowning of Emperor Haile Selassie - November 2

Descending Day of Lord Buddha - November 4

Treaties Recognition Week - November 5 - November 12

Inuit Day - November 7

National Indigenous Veterans’ Day - November 8

Remembrance Day - November 11

Bandi Chhor Divas - November 12

Diwali - November 12

Transgender Awareness Week - November 13 - November 20

World Diabetes Day - November 14