Blog Archives - Lord Tennyson Elementary PAC - Home of the Tigers

Je Respecte Nos Differences - Pink Shirt Day Promotes Inclusion

2/28/2018

For Pink Day 2018 students at Tennyson reflected on what it means to include everyone in their school community.

For their Pink Shirt week project, the classes decided to put up “Inclusion Trees” where each student received a leaf and on it had an opportunity to share one way that we can demonstrate kindness, appreciate diversity and include all the members of the school community. Below are some pictures from the beautiful display that's up in the lobby.

Today, students enjoyed a fun assembly about friendship, acts of kindness and inclusion. A big thank you to Mme Vasahlo and the Grade 7 Students Leaders who hosted the assembly, our Grade 2 students for their beautiful singing and Kathy Sing for putting together a superb friendship video that is also posted below.

To celebrate Pink Shirt Day, Tennyson's PIE (Partners for Inclusive Education) group invited all parents to their meeting for coffee, pie and the opportunity to learn more about what they do. As well as discovering that the PIE parents have a wealth of knowledge that they are delighted to share, it was exciting to learn that a lot of the initiatives that PIE parents are advocating for will benefit the entire student body. The next PIE meeting is scheduled for April 10; it is well worth attending.

Peer Tutoring Support Needed

2/27/2018

Tennyson's Peer Tutoring Program needs a couple of adult volunteers:

French speaking (in an ideal world) parents are needed on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 9-9:30 am from April 3-May 15. If you are interested and don't speak French, check in anyway!
English speaking parents are needed during the same times from May 15 th - June 25 th

Please connect with vice principal Regina Vosahlo ( rvosahlo@vsb.bc.ca ) if you can help out.
Thanks for considering!

Volunteers Needed for Upcoming Events and the PAC Executive

2/27/2018

Thank you to all the parents and staff who came out to the PAC meeting last night. We had a packed agenda but powered through and covered everything off in record time.

There are lots of exciting events coming up in the next few months including the Scholastic Book Fair, Spell-a-thon, the Spring Fling, Track and Field, science workshops and iGirl and iGuy presentations. Of course, to make these events the big hits we want them to be, we are looking for volunteers.

Volunteers Needed

The Peer Tutoring Program needs a French speaking parent who can volunteer on Tuesday and/or Thursday mornings from 9am - 9:30am. Please contact vice principal Regina Vosahlo if you can help. This program pairs Gr 6 tutors with younger students to help them with their reading.

This year's Spring Fling is scheduled for Fri, May 25 and Jacqueline Crummey has volunteered to be the Parent Champion again this year. Thanks Jacqueline! To help ensure another successful event this year, she is looking for volunteers to help with all aspects of the event including; performers sign-up and scheduling, sound/light logistics on the night, the ever-coveted EMCEE, bake sale, food and games. We’ll send a more detailed call-out closer to the date but in the meantime contact Jacqueline, j.crummey@icloud.com, if you know you can help.

The Scholastic Book Fair is scheduled for the week of April 16-20. Nana Yenson (thanks!), who is coordinating the book fair for the last time, is looking for volunteers to help with setting up, sales and packing up. We really need a volunteer to "shadow" Nana and take it over next year.
Please contact Nana, yenson77@gmail.com, if you can help.

The extremely popular Noon Hour Program is volunteer run and could use a bit more volunteer support. Barbara Arenson (thank you for managing the program!) is looking for a parent or two to help share the load in managing the program. If you’re able to help keep this fabulous program going please email NoonHourPrograms@lordtennyson.ca.

Jacqueline Crummey (thanks again!) is also looking for volunteers for Track and Field this year. Parent volunteers are needed to help at practices and to support students at meets. Please contact Jacqueline, j.crummey@icloud.com to let her know how you can help.

And finally, there are some opening on the PAC Executive for 2018/2019. To volunteer for any of the open positions please contact pac.chair@lordtennyson.ca.
The open positions are:

PAC Chair
PAC Assistant Chair
PAC Co-Secretary
DPAC (District PAC) Representative
PAC Communications

Thank you for making Tennyson great!

Tennyson's PIE (Partners for Inclusive Education)

2/24/2018

The Parent Support Group of Lord Tennyson has changed names!
Following the example of parents at General Gordon, we will continue our work under the name “Partners for Inclusive Education”, shortened to "PIE". Everyone who supports student diversity and equitable access to public education is welcome.

We celebrate this and the end of February, national inclusive education month, with:
Pink Day/Anti-Bullying Day -- Coffee with PIE

Date: Wednesday, February 28th
Location: The big cafeteria
Time: 8:30 am to 10:30 am

Join us for coffee and a slice of pie, and network with some of our members. We can tell you about the principles of inclusion, the duty to accommodate and how to approach things if you think your child or a child you know has unmet learning needs . We have experience in advocating for children and ideas about how parents can be supportive partners to school-based teams that are working to build a more inclusive culture at Lord Tennyson.

Everyone is welcome!

VSB Conflict Resolution Process for School-based Concerns

2/22/2018

Have you wondered who to talk to when you have concerns about something at school?

This is from the VSB:

Please help - childcare needed!

2/22/2018

Please see the following message from a parent who just accepted a spot in Kindergarten (for the current school year) for their child:

Hi my name is Andrea and I am looking for before and after school care for my 5 year old daughter. We received an unexpected call informing us that there is a spot in Kindergarten right now. I want to take advantage of this rare opportunity but all the out of school care wait lists are 2 years long!
I would need before school child care from 7:30-9am and 3-5pm for after school ( Mon, Tues, Thurs I would be picking up at 4:30). I wouldn't need it everyday as we do shift work and there are days we can pick up and drop off at school.
I would prefer to be able to drop off at a caregiver's home that is walking distance to the school but open to other arrangements.
If there are any families available to provide this service or know of a reliable caregiver interested, please pass this along and have them contact me.
The start date would be ASAP.

Kind Regards,

Andrea M.
778-838-6168 (txt prefer)
rn.anlau@gmail.com

The Key to Raising a Happy Child

2/18/2018

Thank you to Mme Lapierre for sending this article on raising a happy child.
www.npr.org/sections/ed/2018/02/14/584275859/the-key-to-raising-a-happy-child

VSB After School Programs: Spring Session

2/18/2018

Attention Tennyson parents/guardians: Online registration will be available on Monday, February 19 for the following spring after school programs offered by the VSB Community Schools Team (not Tennyson PAC).

Sportball Tuesdays, April 17 - June 5 (please register online at www.sportball.ca)

Young Rembrandts Thursdays, April 19 - June 7 (please register online at www.youngrembrandts.com)

Please don't delay in registering as these programs fill up very quickly and spaces are limited.

Contact Dianne Sankey at dsankey@vsb.bc.ca with any questions.

DPAC Meeting this Thursday, February 22nd

2/18/2018

DPAC General meeting this Thursday, February 22nd at 7pm in Room 180 of the School Board Office (1580 West Broadway). All parents and guardians of VSB students are welcome to attend. Please contact vicechair@vancouverdpac.org at least 48 hours ahead of time if you require on-site childcare.

Following a brief general meeting (agenda), we are thrilled to have

Jan Unwin - Superintendent of Graduation and Transitions, Ministry of Education; and
Suzanne Hoffman - Superintendent, Vancouver School Board, former Superintendent of Learning, Ministry of Education

present "Educational Transformation: What does the new curriculum mean for your children?"\

This event will also be broadcast for those parents unable to attend in person. This is the link to access the broadcast webinar (test if your device is ready). More information is on our event page.
During this session, the presenters will be using an audience participation tool called Slido. Starting February 17th, you may test if your device will work by simply clicking the link and entering E035 in the # box and click 'Join.' You may answer our Olympic medal poll, or you may enter a question for the presenters to consider prior or during the presentation.

Register online through eventbrite

Earthquake Preparedness Presentation, Monday Feb 26

2/14/2018

The Henry Hudson PAC seismic committee has organized an event with three speakers on earthquake preparedness for 6 to 7 pm on Monday February 26 in the Hudson gymnasium (on Cornwall between Cypress and Maple). As we are a few years away from any completed seismic upgrade, we thought it would be useful, and answer a lot of families' questions, to have a session about our own school's plan, the school board's preparations, and the City's plan for the neighbourhood.

While this will be mostly of interest to the Hudson community, they wanted to invite parents from neighbouring schools as well, particularly those whose families would be accessing the same City of Vancouver Disaster Support Hubs (Kitsilano and False Creek Community Centres) as ours.

Anyone who wants to attend is asked to please let them know at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FLDTM73 by February 21, so they can plan for the right number of childminders and the right sized room. Childcare will be provide, let them know via the link if you need childcare.