École Elgin Market Public School

As announced today by the provincial government, Ontario is implementing a province wide emergency brake for at least four weeks to combat a rise in COVID-19 cases. View today's letter to families from #BWDSB Director Wilder on the status of our schools: http://ow.ly/Zy9N50EeO3q

If you have extra baby wipe containers lying around at home, please consider sending a few in! We label them and use them for our cleaning and sanitizing wipes in the classrooms and are currently running a bit low. We probably need about 8 more, so please post below if you can help. Thank you in advance!

What an amazing week! Thank you to our wonderful home and school volunteers for all the fun of Superhero Week for Staff Appreciation week! From the capes, masks, germ killing sanitizer, giant pins, coffee, snacks and amazing posters to the lovely bagged lunches today, we feel so very spoiled! Even more impressive is being able to stick rigidly to our covid protocols through it all! Thank you on behalf of all the EMP superheros! Bluewater District School Board

Oh Mme Haylow’s class! They got me! Happy April Fools / Poisson d’Avril!

We been made aware of one positive case of COVID-19 associated with Elgin Market Public School. While I understand that this news may cause some anxiety, I wanted to reassure you that there is currently no risk to our students and staff resulting from this particular case of community transmission. Due to the unique circumstances surrounding this case, Grey Bruce Public Health has determined that there is no impact or risk to the school community. As always, public health is the lead for managing all cases and will directly contact ONLY those who may have been exposed as identified through contact tracing. Mme Stockland

I just wanted to reassure families that we will always communicate with you directly if there is a case of covid or exposure to covid. We do not have a case of covid at EMPS, however you may be aware that one of our buses has been impacted by a probable case at another school. I have spoken with every family this affects today. Please rest assured that if there is a case at the school, this will be clearly communicated with all families. Thank you.

Opportunity to learn about self-regulation through Keystone!

We miss being able to have you wander our halls so we are bringing the inside to you today! Enjoy the lovely art and displays from around the school!

Beautiful artwork from the grade 2/3 class with Mme Cygan - 3D art exploring line, shape and form! Can you figure out what they are?

Please click the link for a poster regarding a question and answer session and update on Covid-19 with Dr Ian Arra on Thursday evening, along with an opportunity to submit questions. https://bit.ly/36wHWXo

An incredible creation that makes me really miss the genius creations of our maker space! Don’t we all need one of these at Christmas?

On Tuesday, February 2 we are offering PD Day programs at Eastridge School in Owen Sound, Hanover Heights, Elgin Market in Kincardine, and Northport in Port Elgin. Participation is $34/child and open to the public. Register online here: https://osgbymcareg.campbrainregistration.com/

Good morning everyone! Some families are having difficulties when staff close and re-open meetings. If you find yourself in a meeting without anyone, please log out and log back in. Staff often close the meetings and put a new link up for the following day, but if you don't log out each night, you are trying to enter the previous day's meeting. Some staff are leaving the meeting open until the end of the week to prevent this issue, however it does mean that students have access to it outside of supervised hours. As always when using technology, please monitor your child's use as no supervision is provided outside of the teacher's "office hours". Thank you!

Don't forget the Support For Learners funding ($200 per child, or $250 for students with special needs) expires February 8th. You must apply again even if you received it in the Spring. https://www.ontario.ca/page/get-support-learners

A reminder for all parents wanting to transfer from EMP to the remote school (e-learning) or return from the remote school to EMP that the deadline is Friday January 8 at 9am. Classes will then begin in the new school on February 3. We will see you all on Jan 11!

Good evening all and Happy New Year! We are so excited to virtually see all of you tomorrow! Please see the January newsletter with information about the upcoming week of e-learning. https://bit.ly/3b1QUis

It's day 4 of remote learning. We are thinking of our students and families this week as they attempt to manage many responsibilities and pressures during these unique and uncertain times. #staystrong

Merry Christmas to all those celebrating and we hope you have a wonderful, healthy holidays!Merry Christmas to all those celebrating and we hope you have a wonderful, healthy holidays!

We echo the sentiments in this letter; we understand the challenge of extended online learning for many families, and will continue to be flexible to meet the needs of all of our families and learners.

This will be coming out via school messenger this morning too.

As school winds down for the two-week break, #BWDSB Director Wilder is pleased to share this holiday message with students, staff, families, partners, and communities: http://ow.ly/r2Hi50COnqu

View today's letter to parents/guardians from #BWDSB Director Wilder regarding this week's memo from the Ministry of Education encouraging that students take home personal belongings before leaving for the holidays: http://ow.ly/YTSB50COAqN

Very exciting for our students too!

Don’t forget PJ day tomorrow!

Some amazing Halloween and pumpkin art to get you in the spirit for tonight!

Festive Hat and Crazy Hair Day!! The students left be sharing fun times at school.

We invite everyone to wear orange and black on Friday! (Yes Basketballs are the closest to pumpkins on here!!!)We invite everyone to wear orange and black on Friday! (Yes Basketballs are the closest to pumpkins on here!!!)

Just TWO MORE available if you are looking to purchase one!

This Holiday Season the COVID-19 Assessment Centres across #GreyBruce will be operating according to the following schedule: https://www.gbhs.on.ca/grey-bruce-c...ovid-19-assessment-cent/. Appointments are required. Patients are reminded to arrive no more than 5 mins prior to booked time & wear a mask. See more

Christmas is coming and we want to ensure that all of our students who celebrate Christmas have gifts under the tree. We recognize this is a year like no other and don't always know who needs assistance with the changing situations around employment and needs. If you need help to make this happen, please contact me. It is completely confidential and we will do a referral to the Gift Card program on your behalf. If you are able to support this fabulous cause, please see the s...econd poster for ways to donate cash or gift cards. Thank you! Mme Stockland

Happy Early Childhood Educators Day to Mme Sloetjes (Mme S!), Mme Hall and Mme McGinn! (And Mme Diffin who gets to celebrate ECE and teachers day!) our youngest students are so lucky to have you in their lives. Thank you for all you do!

Fabulous holiday fun for our students with an ASD diagnosis!

Festive hat day tomorrow!Festive hat day tomorrow!

IT IS HERE!! Lots of you are already enjoying your Elgin Market 2019-20 yearbooks! One of the few great things to come out of 2020 so far! The best news is that we have ordered some extras as we know several families had requested one. We have 24 remaining. These can be purchased through school cash online at https://BWDSB.schoolcashonline.com - sorry, we can’t accept cash or cheque’s at this time due to covid protocols.

ATTENTION #BWDSB home school families: A letter, tip sheet, and survey are available at the following link. https://www.bwdsb.on.ca/Parents/Home_School

LAST DAY: The survey for Kincardine area families to provide feedback regarding the site location for the new build to replace Ecole Kincardine District Senior School closes today at 4:00 p.m. Participate here: http://ow.ly/lfRa50CAANg

View today's letter from #BWDSB Director Wilder to parents/guardians regarding our transition plan in the event of a school/classroom/district closure: http://ow.ly/u3wf50BWNVn

Please find the October newsletter here with all the information regarding reorganization. https://bit.ly/3dpe1Cy

Festive sweater day tomorrow!Festive sweater day tomorrow!

Parents in Grades 5 and 6, please check your email. I have sent a message regarding reorganization.

Contact us to register! [email protected] and we will send you a registration package for 2021-22 enrolment!

Reindeer Art from Mme Diffin and Mme Hall’s class. Amazing little artists.

Here is the newsletter in case anyone didn’t receive it by messenger. Don’t forget spirit days next week! https://bit.ly/2W1UwrW

An amazing opportunity to help students!

Such an important topic!

If families are planning on moving into or out of the remote (online learning) school, please contact me at [email protected]. The deadline is 9am on January 8th for families to submit their interest, with a start date of February 3rd.

Lots of fun today in the snow! BK1 (Mme Diffin and Mme Hall’s class rolled snowballs as big as they were and read a story in the sunshine! Here are some photos from the primary yard today too!

Good morning everyone, Despite our best efforts this morning, we could not get enough staff to provide a teacher for every class. Staff will be teaching students virtually via Brightspace for students who are able to be online. This will be a combination of live, synchronous teaching, and posted work. To access this, go to https://bwdsb.elearningontario.ca/ and enter your user name IN EMAIL FORM (e.g. [email protected]). Your username and password are on the on the page ...that was sent out a few weeks ago for safe keeping. If you have lost it, please message me ([email protected]) and I will resend it. If you are logging in multiple children on one device, the simplest thing to do is to assign one browser to each child (Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge are all supported.) If not, you will need to go to portal.office.com to sign out in between users as Brightspace is connected to the student Microsoft accounts. When you go in, you will see My Courses on the right hand side. Click to enter your course. Classroom teachers will be available to support you. Mme Burrows' class - please note, Mme Burrows is unwell, but has uploaded resoources into her Brightspace platform for you for today. If you have any issues, please let me know and I will try to support. Thank you, Mme Stockland

So important to read with your child. Reading to them in English supports their learning in French too by modeling what good readers do, teaching a love of literacy, introducing new vocabulary and understanding features of text such as character, plot, story structure etc. Most importantly, it opens a door to a world of imagination! Happy Reading!

Sent by messenger Friday. Please read this important change.

Please see the newsletter from trustee Jan Johnstone http://ow.ly/2or050Cqm3D

Wonderful opportunity from Bruce County Libraries!

Please see the attached November Newsletter sent out by School Messenger today. It contains links for the School Community Council / Home and School meetings as well as links to sign up for Parent Teacher Interviews for Nov 26th and 27th. https://bit.ly/2UlURVL

Just a reminder, it is not too late to sign up for next year!

A few more photos of the beautiful artwork for Remembrance Day.

Tomorrow we will be commemorating Remembrance Day in a different way due to our covid protocols and marking the two minute silence. We give thanks for living in a country where we have peace and remember those who gave their lives for our peace and freedom. Art work by Mme Haylow’s grade 1/2 class and Mme Tremblay’s Grade 3 class (with Mme Saxton)

Today (November 8) is National Indigenous Veterans Day. We honour and reflect on the many contributions of our Indigenous citizens to Canada's military during W...orld Wars I and II, the Korean War, and throughout history. We thank them for their sacrifices and bravery, which helped enable the freedoms we are privileged to have currently. See more

Good evening everyone! I sent home letters today with every child’s log on information. Please check your child’s backpack for this. This is part of our preparedness plan just in case of a need to pivot to elearning at some point. We are not anticipating this but are required to be ready for anything. If your child is in Grade 4 or 5 and needed their password resetting as they had forgotten it, please check after tomorrow night as teachers are resetting them tonight and tomor...row. We have sent the password it will be changed to. Please keep these sheets safe to help ensure a smooth transition to elearning if needed at any point. If you didn’t receive a technology agreement and would need a computer to access eLearning, please let me know and I can send one home. If you did receive one, please complete and sign it and we will ensure that a system is allocated in the even if a closure. Thanks Mme Stockland

Our popular DFS Fundraiser is now online! Support our Home and School fundraiser by ordering at www.shopdfscanada.com and register using the steps below and our organizational code - 7021. Orders must be in by Nov 20 and will be shipped out approximately Dec 7th. If your order is $100, shipping is free and it comes straight to your home! Thank you for your support!

We will be having a significant reorganization, impacting approximately 30-40 students in our school population. I will be contacting families for the remainder of the week to inform you if your child will be changing classes. Please note, teachers have helped to create class lists based on established friendship groups. We will have a transition afternoon on October 16th for all students to meet their new classmates. Thank you in advance for your support.

Public Health Protocols as of October 4th, 2020 Please see this link for a message regarding updates to the Covid-19 protocols and attached documents https://bit.ly/3jydtNf You can also find the current protocols on our school website: https://emp.bwdsb.on.ca under Quick Links on the bottom right hand side of the page.... Thank you for your support with this in these ever changing times. Mme Stockland

To all of our wonderful teachers - thank you and happy World Teacher's Day! You make a difference every day to our students and school with your commitment and enthusiasm!

JOB POSTING: #BWDSB invites applications for placement on the Casual Supply Custodian List. Learn more: http://ow.ly/EHKP50BHL7i

Eric McFadyen and Brenda Symonds are two of the best too! Enjoy your treats, thank you for all you do!

As a reward for their amazing efforts for Terry Fox, students are able to wear costumes tomorrow if they wish. Costumes must be appropriate for school, accessories (such as wands and stuffies) must stay home and COVID masks are still required. Please ensure that your child can still participate in the school day (nothing too bulky!) and they must wear their costumes to school as staff are unable to help dress them. Thank you!

We were cc’d in on this email that was sent to the board yesterday from one of our parents. I asked the author’s permission to share it as it is an important reminder of how we are all in this together. It is only because of all of our efforts that this works. Thank you everyone for doing your part to keep our students and staff safe! As September comes to a close, I am writing to express my gratitude to the educators, administrators and other school staff that have worked t...irelessly to ensure that our children have had a safe return to school this fall. I am a parent of two children at Elgin Market Public School and I have been thoroughly impressed at the way the school has handled the return to school. In spite of insufficient resourcing from our provincial government, they have found ways to make school not only as safe as possible, but also making the experience as smooth as possible for students who have missed their friends and having a stable routine. Educators have been creative and have put in their own time and resources so that guidelines can be met, and students have the best possible environment for learning. Administrators have been kind and understanding in communicating and helping parents interpret the guidelines about child illness and return to school. Parents in the school community have been adaptable, juggling work and childcare and long testing lines to help keep other students safe. Students seem to have embraced wearing masks and the new normal that has been presented to them. The joy of seeing my kids excited about going to school has been such a bright spot in an otherwise challenging year. I have full confidence in the school community that we will all continue to do everything we can to weather this second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic together.

Orange Shirt Day is one of the most important days in our school year. We are always amazed by the depth of conversation, compassion and empathy displayed by the students, and this year was no exception. One Kindergarten student shared that our country made a mistake when asked why we were wearing orange shirts today. It is only through understanding the legacy and trauma of residential schools that we can ensure the lessons of the past are never repeated and move forward to make our society a more just and equitable place for our children. Our older learners learned the names and the stories of children at residential schools and reflected on the important of the Chaque Enfant Compte / Every Child Matters message. Below are some photos of the day and some of the work produced. Bluewater District School Board

Wow! You are all amazing! We smashed our target of $500 for Terry Fox, raising a staggering $1147.15 with our school relay! Here are a few photos from yesterday’s events!

I am happy to share that we have received some additional flexibility in our Covid-19 screening. If we/you suspect your child has situational symptoms, such as a tummy ache due to anxiety or needing the bathroom, or a headache from not getting enough sleep etc., we are now able to offer up to a 24 hour observational period. If their symptoms resolve during this time, they are able to return to school the following day without the need for a test now. We do have parents often... commenting that their child just has a runny nose. Please note that this observational period DOES NOT apply to a runny nose. Recent research in the Ottawa outbreak shows that 17% of children diagnosed with Covid-19 ONLY presented with a runny nose. While this is not a significant symptom for them, for those who are immuno-compomised, for staff and for the community as a whole, we have to act with abundance of caution and thank you for your support on this. If a child is presenting with a runny nose after coming in from outside, we will have them blow their nose, and then re-evaluate a short while after to determine if this is caused by coming in from the cold or is a symptom. The document below contains the latest guidance from Public Health on this change to protocol. https://bit.ly/36hN2Y5 See more

Orange Shirt Day - we encourage everyone to wear Orange on September 30th to mark Orange Shirt Day. This is a day dedicated to educating and building awareness of the Indian Residential School System and the impact this had, and continues to have, on our Indigenous communities. We hope you will join us in marking this important date #everychildmatters

Due to a Microsoft power outage across the states, I can't send this via Messenger or Aspen, but tomorrow is our Terry Fox run. This year is the 40th Anniversary of Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope and Elgin Market Public School is proud to be continuing the legacy of one of our greatest heroes. Please join us and support this wonderful cause by donating to: http://www.terryfox.ca/ElginMarketPSKincardine or making a $2 donation through https://bwdsb.schoolcashonline.com/ We are unable to accept cash donations at this time, but we have some wonderful staff members who have offered to dress up in costumes if the students can earn $500 - everyone donate to make Mme Boucher and Mme Burrows dress up!

Please note I am out for a couple of days awaiting COVID testing results for a sore throat. If you need me, please feel free to message through here or by email ([email protected])

Are you able to come in regularly to help prepare breakfast club? We are looking for a few volunteers to come in from 2-3pm to assist the lovely Kim Brown and cover in her absence. It is truly quite simple and could be as little as once a week. It makes a HUGE difference to our school community and we really want to be able to continue to offer it. Please message Mme Stockland at [email protected] if you can help!

Please see this important update to the screening protocol. This was also sent out today via messenger. https://bit.ly/3iRS5lJ

IMPORTANT - We will be receiving a downloadable version of this screen from the board, but please take a look at the media release for more information about changes to the Public Health procedure for students with possible COVID symptoms.

Please read this important letter coming out by messenger tomorrow

This is a message for Elementary Remote Learning Families. You will receive an email from your child’s teacher on Wednesday, September 16. In this email, there ...will be work for your child to get started with online learning. We are using email communication at this time, as we continue to work to develop the Brightspace online class environments. Use the time tomorrow for your child to log onto Brightspace. As of 9:00am, there will be a welcome video available. We want to use the time tomorrow to insure that all users can access the Brightspace environment. Please contact us [email protected] if you require assistance with your username or password.

As the school year starts, we are pleased to share this parent/guardian info sheet from School Mental Health Ontario, "Noticing Mental Health Concerns for Your ...Child": http://ow.ly/7Pe150Bj1ZF; View our Mental Health and Well-Being section on our Return to School web page: https://www.bwdsb.on.ca/Parents/Return_to_School See more

We received confirmation today that the COVID testing centre in Kincardine is open from 12-6 not 12-4 as stated on the letter that came home. Apologies for the error!

Please see the document below regarding the process for students displaying one or more possible symptoms of COVID-19. Please make use of the assessment centres for assessment, rather than the emergency department wherever possible. Our Public Health nurse has also informed me that the assessment centres can also provide notes for school if required for chronic conditions such as allergies, if you are unable to get into your family doctor on short notice. https://bit.ly/32rgDvV

At the end of a great first week back, I want to thank all of our parents for helping prepare the children for back to school. They have done amazingly with the masks and are getting the hang of social distancing! Thank you to all of our staff for their can do attitudes as we adapt to the changing protocols, especially Mme Vanderhorst in the office and our custodian team Mr McFadyen and Mrs Symonds. It has been a whirlwind of a week but it is so lovely to have you all back! If you haven’t yet, please get your start of year paperwork back in so we can post all the amazing photos from this week. Here are a few!

Please note these important changes for parents choosing e-learning.

A new web page has been created for ongoing updates regarding any confirmed cases of COVID-19 in #BWDSB schools and facilities. Simply click on the COVID-19 Advisories button at the following link and bookmark the page: https://www.bwdsb.on.ca/Parents/COVID-19_Updates

Parents participating in elearning, please read