Black Heritage Month Activities
This month at school we have several activities designed to engage and foster conversation among our students, staff and families about the significant contribution of Black Canadians both past and present to Canada. These include daily announcements, Twitter challenges to investigate further Black Canadians that are the focus of our daily announcements. Our classes will engage in a Livestream Conference: Tuesday February 8th @9:30am. On Friday March 4th our school will be hosting a Black Canadian 365 Program School.
Below is a summary of this exciting presentation.
Our school will be having a visit from Hip-Hop artist and speaker Duane “D.O.” Gibson, on the morning of Friday, March 4th.
Gibson is a Guinness World Record-setting rapper celebrating his twentieth year of visiting schools in 2022. He will be delivering his Black Canadian 365 program, which has been profiled in Globe and Mail, City TV, Entertainment Tonight Canada and more. In this program, Gibson talks about Viola Desmond, who stood up for her rights by sitting down at a movie theatre in Nova Scotia. Recently her image was added to the ten-dollar bill. He talks about freedom fighter Josiah Henson – a slave that travelled the Underground Railroad for freedom in Canada, became a landowner and helped others free and empower other blacks. The presentation is interactive, and he gets the students rapping along – even in a virtual space.
Mental Health Family Resources
In this new video series, School Mental Health Ontario Family / Caregiver Engagement and Literacy Lead, Patricia Codner speaks directly to parents/caregivers to provide inspiration and information to support student mental health.
In this first video, the focus is on how to find resources to support your child’s mental health.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xURT9sMiFpg
AND/OR
- link to ycdsb student mental health site
- link to mental health resource list
Daily Covid Screening
Students need to continue to confirm they’ve completed and passed their daily self-screening every day they attend school in person. Students must complete the Provincial Screening Tool followed by the Daily Screening Confirmation Form. We would ask our Parents/Guardians to sign the form and return it to school with their child daily.
Term 1 Report Card Distribution Information
Our school will be delivering report cards electronically on Tuesday, February 8th (after 4:00 PM) via the Parent Portal.
Parents are encouraged to sign-on to the Parent Portal in advance of February 8th, 2022 to ensure your username and password will allow access.
To access this portal, please visit our school’s website (https://kta.ycdsb.ca/), and click on the parents link in the top banner. From the Parents page, you will find a link to “Maplewood Parent Portal ConnectEd” on the right hand side.
Dates to keep in your calendars for future events:
February 8, 2022 Report Cards on Portal
February 8, 2022 Black Heritage Presentation Part 1
February 14, 2022 School Fundraiser Launch/ Valentine’s Day/ Spirit Day
February 22 to 25 Carnaval
February 23, 2022 Pink Shirt Day
March 1, 2022 Shrove Tuesday at SKTA
March 2, 2022 Ash Wednesday Liturgy (Virtual)
March 4, 2022 Black Heritage Month Presentation Part 2