890 Old Derry Road West, Mississauga, ON, L5W 1A1. Phone: 905-564-5735. Att: 1-855-209-6155

Acting Principal: Mrs. S. Service Acting Vice-Principal: Ms. P Middleton Office Manager: Mrs. M. Collins

Superintendent: Mr. H. Aujla (905) 366-8800 School Trustee: Mr. R. Crocker (905) 890-1099

Asian Heritage Month In December 2001 the Honourable Vivienne Poy presented a motion to celebrate Asian Heritage Month, it was unanimously adopted by the Senate of Canada. In May 2002 Parliament subsequently signed a declaration proclaiming May to be Asian Heritage Month. In 2005, the Government of Ontario made the same proclamation at Queen's Park. Asian Heritage Month promotes Canada's diversity. It strives to celebrate the vibrant and growing Asian community from the arts and science to sport, business, and government. This initiative offers all Canadians an opportunity to learn more about the history of Asian Canadians and to celebrate their ongoing contributions to the growth and prosperity of Canada.

Here at Meadowvale Village we embrace Asian Heritage Month and celebrate our place in the global village. Throughout the month we will begin the day by enjoying energetic music from around Asia, we will also learn interesting facts about different Asian cultures and about the achievements of Asian Ca-nadians during our morning announcements. May is a great time to visit our library and read our dual language books featuring many Asian languages. Finally, our teachers bring wonderful books and ac-tivities to their classrooms as part of our appreciation of AHM.

Parking In a Fire Route All families are reminded that there is no parking permitted in any designated fire route lanes. You are asked to park your car in a parking spot when coming to pick up or drop off your child. Parking authori-ty has been ticketing cars that are parked in the fire lane. Please refrain from parking in fire lanes on Peel property at any time.

Jump Rope For Heart It’s that time of year again Meadowvale! Jump Rope For Heart is back! We will be having our kick off assembly on Thursday May 10

th and our event date is set for

Friday May 17th. This year our goal is to raise $4000 for the Heart and Stroke Foundation. Every donation helps us to reach our fundraising goal and to help save lives! Look for the pledge envelopes in your child’s agenda soon. All money raised will support Heart & Stroke in their mission to promote children’s health and fund vital heart and stroke research. Jump Rope for Heart encourages kids to get active by skipping rope while they collect pledges for heart disease and stroke research. They also learn the importance of living a healthy lifestyle and giv-ing back to their community. As an added incentive, our top five fundraisers are going to get to throw a whip cream pie in a teacher’s face! Stay tuned for more details regarding this exciting event!

MAY 2019

Empowering Modern Learners..

Student-centred

Facilitate relevant information

Authentic exploration

Use big ideas,

Make real-world connections

Link to students’ passions

Integrate technology

Models of Learning

should be:

Game Based Learning

Inquiry

Knowledge Building

Design Thinking

World Connections

News From The Library

The Forest of Reading® is Canada's largest recreational reading program. This initiative of the Ontario

Library Association (OLA), celebrates Canadian books, publishers, authors and illustrators. More than

270,000 readers participate annually from their School and/or Public Library.

It has been a tradition here at MVPS to participate in the Forest of Reading program. All students from

kindergarten to grade 2 participated in the Blue Spruce Program. Some students in grades 3 and 4

participated in the Silver Birch Express Club which took place once a week during lunch hour. Some of

the grade 5 students participated in the Silver Birch Fiction Club. Silver Birch Express and Silver Fic-

tion Club members will be attending Peel’s Forest of Reading celebration, taking place on May 16th.

We are so excited to go and celebrate our love of reading with other schools in Peel.

Voting for our favourite books took place in April. Here are the results:

Blue Spruce: Where Oliver Fits, by Cale Atkinson

Silver Birch Express: Hollow under the Tree, by Cary Fagan

Silver Birch: Falcon Wild, by Terry Lynn Johnson

At our Forest of Reading Celebration we’ll be finding out how the rest of Ontario voted. We can’t wait!

Thank you to the School Council for supporting Forest of Reading by providing us with the money to

purchase the books, book a school bus, and pay for tickets to attend.

EQAO Parents of students in grade 3 are asked to keep the following dates free for the administration of EQAO:M a y 21 — June 3

What is an IEP?

Education is full of acronyms and IEP is one of many that a parent/guardian of a child receiving special education support will encounter.

An IEP is an Individual Education Plan. Developed at the beginning of the school year, it lays out the accommodations and modifications to the regular curriculum that help your child learn and be success-ful. No formal identification is needed but you, the parent/guardian should be involved in the develop-ment as you provide valuable input. It can be overwhelming so there are pamphlets, webpages, and Special Education Advisory Committee (SEAC) representatives who can help you understand and make informed contributions.

May is Better Speech and Hearing Month. Let's thank the professionals who help our children with their speech and language challenges.

For more information, please visit www.peelschools.org/parents/specialed/iep

May 15 – Celebrate Peel IT Support Staff and Media Support Services Appreciation Day This year, the Peel District School Board will recognize the contributions of its IT support staff and me-dia support services on May 15, 2019. The Peel board appreciates the important work of these individ-

Student Trustees Elected For 2018-19 School Year

.Kenisha Arora and Prabhleen Nar have been elected as student trustees for the 2019-20 school year. Kenisha Arora, from Glenforest Secondary School, will represent schools south of Highway 401, and Prabhleen Nar, from Louise Arbour Secondary School, will represent schools north of Highway 401.

These results were announced at the Regular Meeting of the Board on April 23. The student trustee elections were held in schools on April 15 and 16. Student trustees serve an important role by representing students in decisions about education in Peel, and keeping students informed about important decisions that affect them. For more information about student trustees and their responsibilities, visit www.peelschools.org/studenttrustees.

Peel schools honour police officers during Police Appreciation Week The Peel District School Board will pay tribute to police officers by holding Police Appreciation Week from May 13 to 17, 2019. Peel students and staff will show their appreciation for the tremendous job being done by police to protect schools, homes and communities. Police Appreciation Week coincides with National Police Week. National Police Week pays tribute to the work of police officers across Can-ada. During this week, students, staff and parents in schools throughout Brampton, Caledon and Mis-sissauga will honour the work of police officers and thank them for enhancing public safety and securi-ty.

Are You Moving?

Parents are asked to visit the office to pick up a transfer form if they are not attending Meadowvale Vil-lage in September. Please provide the date your child will be moving and the name of the school your child will be attending in September so that we can update our records, transfer your child, and finalize our class lists.

Celebrating Faith and Culture May 2019 DATE CELEBRATION FAITH AND CULTURE

May Yansa'altt and Flower Moon Indigenous

May 1 Beltane Wicca

Sunset of May 1 to May 2 Yom HaShoah Judaism

May 2 ● 12th Day of Ridvan Bahá'í

May 6 Ramadan Islam

May 7 Akshaya-tritiya Jainism

May 12 or 19 Sakyamuni Buddha’s Birthday Buddhism

May 17 to June 4 the month of 'Azamat Bahá'í

May 19 ● Wesak Day/Buddha Day Buddhism

May 20 Victoria Day Canada

Eve of May 23 to 24 Declaration of the Báb Bahá'í

May 24 Zarathosht-no-Diso Zoroastrianism

Eve of May 28 to May 29 Ascension of Bahá'u'lláh Bahá'í

May 31 Lailat ul-Qadr Islam

May 31 Jumatul Widha Islam

May 10 or 17 (J) Ascension Christianity

Using Social Media Safely

With the growing number of social media sites, it is no surprise that social media is the most common form of communication for children and teenagers. Posts, status updates, comments, instant messag-es, video uploads, tweets and texts have become a regular part of their lives. While there are many positive benefits to using social media, including staying connected with friends and expressing your interests, students must be cautious in their use of these networks.

Among the most popular social media platforms used are Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube and Whatsapp Messenger. Many of these platforms are free and are available on smartphones and other electronic devices. These platforms are easy to navigate and often allow in-formation to be shared instantly, not only with friends, but with strangers. On social media, it is im-portant to remember that the world is watching.

Here are some tips, provided by the Canadian Safe School Network and GetSafeOnline.org, to keep your children safe and help them make smart choices when using social media:

Set some boundaries for your child before they get their first ‘connected device’ (mobile, tablet, laptop or games console). Once they have it, it can be more difficult to change the way they use it or the settings.

Have a conversation about what is appropriate online behaviour and what actions could have

huge repercussions that could damage their reputation and be harmful to others.

Talk to your child about the kind of websites they look at. Encourage them to speak to you if they come across something they find worrying or upsetting on websites, games or social media.

Discuss with your child what is safe and appropriate to post and share online. Written com-ments, photos and videos all form part of their ‘digital footprint’ and could be seen by anyone and available on the internet forever, even if it is subsequently deleted.

Explain to your child that being online doesn’t give them anonymity or protection, and that they

shouldn’t do anything online that they wouldn’t do face-to-face. Users should only accept people

they know in order to protect themselves from spammers, strangers and others who may be us-

ing social networking sites to commit crimes.

Unlike when they’re meeting someone face-to-face, children don’t always know who they’re ac-tually ‘talking’ to online, even if they think they do. Tell your children they must never email, chat, or text with strangers, and it’s never okay to meet a stranger in the real world.

Ensure your children set their privacy settings appropriately. Take the time to learn how privacy settings work on your children’s favourite sites, and teach them how to control their privacy.

Tell your children never to share personal and private information with anyone online. This in-

cludes, but is not limited to, his or her full name, age, birth date, address, phone number, social

insurance number, credit card information and parents’ full names.

Limit the amount of time that your children spend on social media platforms and talk about the

importance of healthy and appropriate use of technology.

Celebrating and Promoting Children’s Mental Health

Children’s Mental Health Week is happening May 5-11 in Ontario. It’s a time to focus on the important ways we can promote and nurture the mental health and well-being of our children.

Mental Health: A State Of Well-Being

Did you know that we ALL have mental health? It is more than just the absence of illness. Mental health is de-fined as a state of well-being in which every individual realizes their own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to their community (World Health Organization). Indigenous teaching reminds us that mental wellness is a balance of the mental, physical, spiritual and emotional parts of ourselves and is enriched when individuals experience purpose, hope, belonging and meaning in their lives (First Nations Mental Wellness Continuum Framework). A child’s mental health is just as important as their physical health when it comes to success at school, in friendships and in life.

Here are some key tips and strategies to nurture your child’s mental health and resilience from your

PDSB Mental Health Resource Team:

Safe, responsive relationships between adults and children is our greatest tool for promoting positive devel-opment and mental health in youth. When a child has consistent, caring adults in their life both at home and in the community, when they know they are loved and valued no matter what, and have someone trusted they can turn to when a problem arises, their resilience is bolstered.

Listen and validate feelings. Encourage children to talk about their thoughts and feelings, and show lots of love and acceptance. Keep the conversation flowing by asking open-ended questions and spending quality time together at mealtimes and by participating together in activities your child enjoys.

Help Your Child Develop a Positive Sense of Self. A child’s self-perception is linked with their mental health. Help them set realistic goals; praise them for effort as well as achievement by providing genuine, real-istic praise. Foster positive connections with their cultural or faith community. A child with high self-esteem be-lieves they are a good person, understands their positive qualities and strives for a successful, happy life.

Model and Teach Healthy Ways to Manage Stress. While it’s important to try to protect your child from over-whelming or toxic stress, not all stress is bad. In fact, some stress helps us motivate and prepare us to per-form our best, and there is bound to be some stress after a disagreement with friends or being cut from a sports team. Give your child the tools they need to cope with stress and big feelings in a healthy way: estab-lish healthy habits including exercise, getting enough sleep and proper nutrition; practicing gratitude and deep breathing, journalling or talking with a trusted adult are just a few examples.

Notice Changes and Reach Out for Help. If you notice signs that your child feels sad or overly anxious about normal situations like going to school or meeting new people, take note. A change in mood or behaviour that lasts more than two weeks, impacting social problems, academic issues or family problems could be sign of a mental health concern. Keep the lines of communication open with your child’s teacher and other caring adults in their life to discuss observations. Remember, there is no age too early for a child or family to see a mental health provider; in fact, it might benefit the whole family by providing resources and support to caregiv-ers who may be struggling, too.

Where Can I Get Help?

At school, your child can reach out to their teacher, coach, guidance teacher or school administrator as a starting point, to talk about their mental health. Every PDSB school is also assigned Social Work and Psychol-ogy staff to provide consultation and direct service to students, and assist students and families to get con-nected to helpful resources in the community.

In the community, visit www.WhereToStart.ca to access mental health services for children and youth in Peel. For a quick guide to mental health resources, visit bit.ly/PeelYouthResources.

For more tips on building mental health and resilience, visit bit.ly/ResiliencyTips

Adapted from Caring for Kids (2019) and Very Well Family (2018).