End of Day Dismissal / Pick Up – Feb. 13th

The pick-up process might be slower today as the snow is deep, and we ask for your patience. There is no urgency to pick up your child as dismissal is at 3:45, and we always have supervision until 4:00pm.

If you want a quick pick-up and to avoid the rush at the end of the day, please feel free to come and sign your child out from the main office before 3pm today.

Drive safely, everyone!

Support Toonie Tuesday – Give a Little, Help a Lot

$2 can be the difference between nothing and something. The OCDSB’s Toonie Tuesday campaign has kicked off, and we’re ready to make 2025 our best year yet! Ottawa families need our help! Every dollar raised will support students’ access to food, clothing, and meaningful activities. You can invest in a student’s potential! On Tuesday, February 25th, we all come together to support students in need within the OCDSB. But you don’t have to wait until then. Our school has collected $302.00 thus far and would love to see us beat our total from last year of $1200.00! You can donate at School Cash Online. Let your toonie be the stepping stone to student success.

 

Slowing Movement! Defying Gravity!

This week, as part of our Forces and Movement Science unit, the students enjoyed the challenge of designing and building a device that slowed the time it took a foam ball to hit the ground when dropped from a height of about 2.5 metres! Congrats to Miranda, Leo, and Yixiu for designing a device that slowed how long it takes for the ball to reach the ground by almost a second (from 0.66 secs. to 1.44 secs.)! In fact, ALL groups successfully slowed the ball’s descent with their devices. Each group decided to build a parachute of some sort to slow down the ball. Tomorrow, we will watch a few videos about the science behind parachutes – to see how their designs could have been improved. Students are encouraged to build their own toy parachute at home as an extra challenge! Feel free to send a video if you take this on! In the meantime, you can see just a few of the devices the students built below.

 

Field Trip on Thursday

I thought I had posted the blurb below earlier this week on this class blog (I did it in Google Classroom). Looking at the weather forecast and the projected snowstorm, I am not too optimistic that we will go to MacSkimming on Thursday. However, we learned today that if the buses are cancelled on Thursday, we can reschedule our visit to MacSkimming for Monday, March 24th!

In case we do get to go on Thursday, here is the info I meant to post here:

Thank you for signing the online field trip permission forms for Thursday’s trip to the MacSkimming Outdoor Center! The students and I are looking forward to the pioneer village experience! A special thanks go out to our parent volunteers: Lydia’s mom and Mustafa’s mom. These parent volunteers should sign in at the office at 9:15am and head to our portable (#6). We will be heading out the bus at 9:35am sharp (right after O Canada and morning announcements), so please make sure your child is here on time at the first bell, or he/she will be placed in another Grade 3 class for learning until we return to the school. We will be returning to the school around 2:15pm in the afternoon. Heavy snow is forecast for this Thursday, so students should be dressed according to the conditions (hat, mitts, snow pants, winter coat, winter boots, extra socks). Please note that if the school board cancels buses due to inclement weather early Thursday morning, our field trip will not proceed and will also be cancelled. Listen to morning radio announcements and check the news/your email before school on Thursday.

Review the information at the following link before Thursday for more info: The Village Field Centre Information Package

Don’t forget to pack your child a litter-free lunch and a reusable water bottle on Thursday. We will have a brief lunch break while we are there.

Hot Lunch Update

Hello Parents,

The pizza make-up day for Wednesday, Jan 29th, which was cancelled due to a snow day and school bus cancellation, has been rescheduled for today (Mon., Feb. 3rd).

If you had ordered pizza for your child(ren) via Hot Lunches on Wednesday, Jan 29th, your child will receive the pizza today.

Thanks!

WEJ School Council

MFI Intentions – A Friendly Reminder

W. Erskine Johnston students going into grade 4 in the fall can either continue in the English program (with 40 minutes of Core French daily) or go into the Middle French Immersion (MFI) program (67% French and 33% English). Parents are asked to complete a letter of intent form on which they will indicate their choice for their child. This form was sent home on Jan. 17th. This is a friendly reminder to please fill it in and return it to me as soon as possible if you have not done so already.

Please complete this form and return it to me by this Friday at the latest.

Spring Talent Show – Video Auditions – February

It’s time to start preparing for our annual WEJ Spring Talent Show! It will be on Thursday, March 27th.  (Friday the 28th is a PD Day.) This is LIVE. ON STAGE. And will be split into two assemblies: one primary and one junior. We will be accepting video auditions over the entire month of February. Auditions are to be a maximum of 2 minutes this year. We’re asking that they be submitted no later than February 28th because it takes hours and hours to go through them.
Have parents send videos to me the organizer:    stephanie.stephens@ocdsb.ca
Thank you,
Mrs. Stephens