Spring Yard Day: April 28th!

Yard Day 2018 updated Note New Date! Saturday April 28th

Help tidy up the school’s Nature Garden and get it ready for spring outdoor learning! Bring the whole family out for Yard Day and Earth Day on April 28th from 9am – noon.

Help spread a ‘Mountain of Mulch’ onto the Nature Garden’s trails
Celebrate Earth Day with our Kids’ Book Swap (bring a book and take one home)!
“Plant” some live worms in the Nature Garden
Do a nature craft!

What is Yard Day?
It’s a fun, family friendly event that brings the school community together to clean up our nature garden and the schoolyard. In addition to the yard work, we’ve got fun spring-themed/Earth Day kids’ activities planned.

Who should come?
Runnymede families! Yard Day is for students, parents, teachers and staff.

What should I bring?
It would help to bring things like:

Buckets
Shovels
Wheelbarrow
Nut-free baking
Re-usable coffee cups and water bottles (to re-fill on-site if you get thirsty)
Lots of energy to help with the work!

Hope to see you at Yard Day!

More questions?

Get in touch at runnymedeyard@gmail.com

School Safety Zone Updates

Have you met our new neighbour?

Just in time for the holidays, a new speed awareness sign was installed on Runnymede Road near the Glenwood crosswalk. As indicated in November’s letter from Councillor Doucette, these signs are part of a larger School Safety Zone strategy, designed to make the streets around Runnymede safer.

Unfortunately, there is discouraging news coming from City Hall about a second initiative, which is the proposal to install traffic calming bump-outs on upper Kennedy Ave. The area in question is north-east of the school, near the parking lot pedestrian walkway.

At our most recent Parent Council meeting, a Runnymede parent shared the proposed design and dimensions for the new bump-outs and voiced serious concerns about the safety of the design. While pleased with the speed control initiative, residents are worried that the design proposed by the city obstructs sight lines, creating dangerous pedestrian situations for Runnymede students.

Local residents are working alongside Councillor Doucette, school Administration and Parent Council to try to resolve these issues with Transportation Services prior to installation.

If you would like more information about this issue please e-mail Runnymedeps@gmail.com.

Nuit Orange Recap

Nuit Orange 2018 was an incredible success!

Energy, enthusiasm, and a celebration of the arts were on the program last week at Nuit Orange – a spectacle of artistic talent never before seen in the halls of our 100-year-old school. The event drew a crowd of hundreds and treated Runnymede families to a showcase of band, strings, drama, dance, and visual art.

Bravo to Runnymede’s dedicated teaching staff who brought this vision to our school and made Nuit Orange happen, especially Mr. Medley, Mr.Ouelette, Mr. Kim, Mr. Latter & Mme Hatzepetros. Their passion for the arts is contagious.

Thank you to Parent Council’s Arts & Enrichment Committee, who spearheaded the art installations for the JK – Grade 5 students, and to the Spirit Committee and its army of volunteers who were the ultimate hosts with their food & drink stations.

Check out a few pictures from Nuit Orange below, or search the hashtag #NuitOrange on Twitter.

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PARENTING WORKSHOP: Mathematical Mindsets

Thursday January 25, 2018
6:30-7:30pm in the Senior Gym (Exit #5)

Parent Council is thrilled to welcome back Trevor Brown – math professor, author, and former Math Consultant for the TDSB – to Runnymede PS for another informative and fun-filled evening of math!

Mr. Brown is a sought-after presenter who is well-versed in the Ministry of Education’s Renewed Math Strategy.

What to expect:

Geared to parents of children in grades 3-6, this interactive workshop will explore four areas:

Multiplication
Division
Fractions
Measurement

RSVP now to take home a free math manipulative! Other math tools will be for sale at the workshop for $3.

Funding has been generously provided by a PRO (Parents Reaching Out) Grant.

The Parent Council meeting will follow in the gym at 7:30.

Thank you for your interest in the Workshop. RSVP’s are now closed.

Everyone from the Runnymede community is welcome, regardless of RSVP and there will be math manipulatives and resources available for purchase at the workshop.

If you need to cancel or change your RSVP please e-mail runnymedeps@gmail.com

Trevor Brown Math Consultant – Additional Resources & Links

On November 23rd, Runnymede Parent Council was thrilled to host Trevor Brown, Math Consultant for an fun and interactive evening of Primary math! Trevor’s enthusiasm for math was palpable as he provided parents with new ways of thinking about old problems.

It was a record turn out, and response from Runnymede parents was overwhelmingly positive. Here is what some had to say about Trevor’s talk:

“Mr. Brown was a great speaker and I feel a lot more confident in supporting my grade 1 in math. Thank you!!!”

“I think this was IMMENSELY valuable for bringing the gap between TODAY’S math homework versus what we were historically taught with a completely different mindset (and UNDERSTANDING WHY!!!!)”

Attached, are some online resources recommended by Trevor, along with some math problems for your kids to try at home:

Primary Math Resources

Additional Problems

Runnymede will be hosting Trevor again in the new year for a workshop aimed at parents of students in Grades 4 – 6.

Thursday January 25, 2018 6:30-7:30pm in the Senior Gym (Exit #5)

Thursday January 25, 2018
6:30-7:30pm in the Senior Gym (Exit #5)