Watch Promoting Mental Health: Finding a Shared Language -- a six minute video to create a better understanding about mental health and well-being

Follow these tips every day to promote your child’s physical health and mental well-being

ü  Try to get 10 or more hours of sleep.

ü  Keep your child’s bedtime about the same time every night and on weekends. 

ü  Create a bedtime routine with your child.

ü  Practice deep breathing together to help relax before bedtime.

ü  Encourage your child to be active during the day.

ü  Limit the time children spend on the TV, computer (outside of school work), electronic games and other screens. Aim for 2 hours or less of screen time

ü  Turn off the TV when no one is watching.

ü  Keep TVs, video games and computers out of your child’s bedroom. The light and sound from screens prevents children from sleeping.

ü  Spend free time being active as a family by going for walks, biking or visiting a nearby playground. 

ü  Keep a bag of play and sports equipment to bring outside.

ü  Have games, puzzles, crafts and books ready when children are looking for activities

ü  Eat meals together as a family with the TV turned off; encourage everyone to talk about his/her day.

ü  Eat meals or snacks together as often as you can. Children are more likely to try foods when they see adults enjoying them.

ü  Avoid food and drinks that have caffeine (colas, chocolate, tea, coffee).

ü  Have vegetables and/or fruit with meals and snacks.

ü  Avoid giving your child snacks high in sugar, fat and salt.

ü  Keep fruit in a bowl on the table and cut vegetables in the fridge so that they are ready to eat.

ü  Try a new vegetable every week; ask children to help pick it out. It could take 10 or more times before children taste and accept a new food, so keep trying!

How Parents Can Access My Blueprint - Click on the page below to enlarge the image

Choices for Nine Magazine Online

Click on the Choices Link below to access the Choices Magazine Online.

Choices

2018 Optional Attendance / Closed Schools List

Grade 9 Course Selections

We are in the midst of high school planning and over the next couple of months; students will be required to make some important choices for grade 9. This is a very exciting and important time for our grade 8 students. The purpose of this post is to keep you informed of some of the procedures and important deadlines for course selections.

Grade 9 Course Selections

We will begin course selections in early January  2018. All students will complete a course selection sheet for their HOME High School (whether this is through gifted, extended French or regular program). Understanding that some students will still be waiting to hear from various specialized/regular programs, all students will be required to complete a course selection for their home school.

Over the next few weeks a paper copy of their course selection sheet(s) will be coming home for families to make descisons about what courses students will take in grade 9. Students have also created a high school plan using MyBlueprint. MyBlueprint Education Planner lets your child create an engaging and interactive education plan. It is strongly recommended students log in to this website at home and further explore the high school planner, specifically course type descriptions, with their families to ensure they are prepared to make final decisions for grade 9. All grade 8 students have already created accounts on My Blueprint and worked through several aspects of the program including the high school planner. Students can log in from home at www.myblueprint.ca/tdsb with their username (tdsb student gmail) and password (student number).
Once final descisions have been made for a students grade 9 destination,students will make final course type selections using the myblueprint high school planner with thier guidance counsellor. Once complete, students will bring home a verification form to be signed by their familes to ensure the correct courses have been selected for grade 9 and returned to their home room teacher.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding course selections or any of the information above, please contact your child's guidance counsellor

Important Dates

• December 2017-~Elementary schools have been notified of which high schools are open for Optional Attendance. (Optional Attendance Forms are available at the guidance office or on this blog), please check this blog or the TDSB website for the list.
• February 2nd 2018 ~ Optional Attendance forms are due to high schools (delivered by parents/guardians).
• Week of February 12th 2018 ~Students are informed of their acceptance to Specialized Programs and Optional Attendance schools.
• February 2018- Students complete course selection on MyBlueprint with Elementary Guidance Counsellors
• Week of February 19th 2018 ~ Completed course selections (printed MyBlueprint and paper copy) are verified and signed by parents/guardians and returned to classroom teachers.
• February 26th and March 2nd 2018 ~ All course selection sheets are collected and delivered to high schools by EIC's.

Sample Optional Attendance Form

Push yourself. Anybody can learn!

Push yourself. Anybody can learn video.  Click on the link below to see the video:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ip051U7Rvds

How to Access All TDSB Grade 9 Information Evenings

To access all the High School Information Evenings in Alphabetical order please use the link below:

http://www.tdsb.on.ca/HighSchool/GoingtoHighSchool/OpenHousesandInformationNights.aspx

Learning Centre 3 Secondary School Information Evenings

	Secondary School	Information Night	Time	Specialized Program
1	Agincourt CI	November 22	7:00	ExF, FI, AP
2	Albert Campbell CI	November 9	6:30	AP, HS, GI,
3	Alternative Scarborough Education 1	By Appointment		ALT
4	Bendale B.T.I.	November 16	6:30	SE, HS
5	Birchmount Park CI	November 1	6:30	EA, GI
6	Cedarbrae CI	December 7	6:30	ExF, FI, LP
7	David and Mary Thomson CI	November 2	6:30	HS, Pre-AP, AP
8	Delphi Secondary Alternative School	December 7 January 16	7:00 7:00	ALT
9	Lester B. Pearson CI	November 9	6:30	AP, HS
10	Maplewood High School	By Appointment		N/A
11	RH King Academy	November 23	6:00 & 7:30	C/N Sys, HS, P
12	SATEC@ W.A Porter CI	November 9	6:00	C/N Sys, CS, MST, HS
13	Sir Oliver Mowat CI	November 15 (Performing Arts) January 17		7:00 7:00
14	Sir Wilfrid Laurier CI	November 2	6:30	IB, HS
15	Sir William Osler HS	March 22	5:00	HS
16	West Hill CI	November 23	6:30	LP, AP
17	Wexford Collegiate School of the Arts	November 7 (Visual & Media Arts) November 8 (Performing Arts)	7:00 7:00	AF
18	Winston Churchill CI	November 15	6:30	SE, AP, Pre-AP, AC
19	Woburn CI	November 22	6:30	GI

Specialized Program Legend

Program	Sym.		Program	Sym.	Program		Sym.
Africentric Program	AC		Entrepreneurship	Entre	LEAP		LP
Arts Focus	AF		Extended French	ExF	Math and Science Focus		MST
Advanced Placement	AP		French Immersion	FI	Media Arts		MA
Alternative	ALT		Gifted	GI	Pre-Advanced Placement		Pre-AP
Cyber Arts	CA		International Baccalaureate	IB	Skills Enhanced		SE
Cyber Studies	CS		International Studies	IS	Specialist High Skills Major		HS
Cisco/Nortel Systems		C/N Sys		Integrated Technology		IT
Elite Athletes/Arts		EA		Leadership Pathway		P

SMART GOALS

As we begin the 2017-2018 school year one of the first activities we will be focusing on in the myblueprint program will be the creation of SMART Goals.  Myblueprint is a powerful and comprehensive education and career/life planning program with the tools students need to make informed decisions about their future.  On the program students will be developing short, medium and long term SMART Goals for Academic, Career and Extracurricular aspirations.  The information below from http://topachievement.com/smart.html does a great job of explaining SMART goals in depth.     

Creating S.M.A.R.T. Goals

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Realistic

Timely

Specific: A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. To set a specific goal you must answer the six “W” questions:

*Who:      Who is involved?

*What:     What do I want to accomplish?

*Where:    Identify a location.

*When:     Establish a time frame.

*Which:    Identify requirements and constraints.

*Why:      Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal.

EXAMPLE:  A general goal would be, “Get in shape.” But a specific goal would say, “Join a health club and workout 3 days a week.”

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Measurable - Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set.

When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued effort required to reach your goal.

To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as……

How much? How many?

How will I know when it is accomplished?

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Attainable – When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them. You begin seeing previously overlooked opportunities to bring yourself closer to the achievement of your goals.

You can attain most any goal you set when you plan your steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows you to carry out those steps. Goals that may have seemed far away and out of reach eventually move closer and become attainable, not because your goals shrink, but because you grow and expand to match them. When you list your goals you build your self-image. You see yourself as worthy of these goals, and develop the traits and personality that allow you to possess them.

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Realistic- To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work. A goal can be both high and realistic; you are the only one who can decide just how high your goal should be. But be sure that every goal represents substantial progress.

A high goal is frequently easier to reach than a low one because a low goal exerts low motivational force. Some of the hardest jobs you ever accomplished actually seem easy simply because they were a labor of love.

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Timely – A goal should be grounded within a time frame. With no time frame tied to it there’s no sense of urgency. If you want to lose 10 lbs, when do you want to lose it by? “Someday” won’t work. But if you anchor it within a timeframe, “by May 1st”, then you’ve set your unconscious mind into motion to begin working on the goal.
Your goal is probably realistic if you truly believe that it can be accomplished. Additional ways to know if your goal is realistic is to determine if you have accomplished anything similar in the past or ask yourself what conditions would have to exist to accomplish this goal.

T can also stand for Tangible – A goal is tangible when you can experience it with one of the senses, that is, taste, touch, smell, sight or hearing.

When your goal is tangible you have a better chance of making it specific and measurable and thus attainable.