Eastdale Students Win at Track & Field

On Thursday, May 24 Eastdale students participated in the Toronto District School Board's track & field event at Birchmount Stadium. Congratulations to all of our students who placed in the top three:

Grace                                                   Al Khazim

3rd in the 80m Sprint                           2nd in the 80m Sprint

1st in the 400m Run                            3rd in the 200m Sprint

Stephon                                               Jahiem

1st in the 80m Sprint                           2nd in the 80m Sprint

1st in the 200m Sprint                         2nd in the 200m Sprint

Tony                                                     Zaid

1st in the 1500m Run                           2nd in the 200m Sprint

Mohammad                                         Cyrus

1st in the 400m Run                             3rd in the 400m Run

Stephon, Zaid, Al Khazim, and Jahiem

1st in the 4 X 100m Relay

Josh
1st in the shot put event

James 
2nd in the shot put event

WAG Trip To Toronto Island

On Monday, May 28th the Wilderness Activity Group went on a trip to the Toronto Islands. Travelling by TTC to the Toronto Island ferry students explored the island, enjoyed a cookout lunch and returned to the school late afternoon. A big thanks to staff who organized the event! The students had a blast!

  

Honey Club @ Eastdale CI

Members of Eastdale's honey club have been busy extracting and processing honey over the past few months. We are now starting to bottle "Eastdale Gold" available for sale at the school. The honey club has learned a great deal about the valuable products that are produced in bee hives, and have crafted some beautiful beeswax candles in addition to our honey. Honey club members set up "bee hotels" around Eastdale to provide habitat for important native solitary bees. Anyone interested in purchasing our honey or candles should get in touch with Mr. Servos at david.servos@tdsb.on.ca.

Eastdale Field Trip To Maple Leaf Sports Entertainment Centre

Eastdale CI had their second opportunity to visit the MLSE Launchpad and experience this wonderful facility. The students were engaged in a number of co-operative games and they had the pleasure to play some basketball on the full sized court. The staff at the Launchpad also introduced our students to the new sport of floor curling and the students had a wonderful time on the rock wall where they overcame challenges both physical and mental. Eastdale would like to thank the staff at the MLSE Launchpad for giving our students such an engaging session and a fun time overall.

Blue Jays Challenger Baseball Clinic @ Eastdale

The Toronto Blue Jays Challenger Baseball program ran a baseball clinic on May 11 at Eastdale, 
as part of the Jays Care’s Challenger Baseball in the Schools Program. We’re so excited that Eastdale is part of the program’s pilot year!

This program provided free equipment and a workshop to help teach teachers to run the program.  The workshop was beneficial to educators and simply used baseball as a platform to help students learn, communicate, have fun and much more. A wonderful opportunity! 

STEM Fair Fun!

On May 16th, Eastdale students participated in the Science Technology Engineering and Math Fair (STEM). Over one hundred students from eight 'Exceptional Schools' from across the Toronto District School Board participated in the day long STEM fair at Sir William Osler High School. Mr. Servos's science class focused on how we can help bees and provide them with habitats as shown below with the creation of 'Bee Hotels'.
During lunch, students participated in an 'egg drop' contest. Student representatives from each school tested their parachutes to keep an egg from breaking when dropped from a high distance. As well, each school participated in a 'Tower Design Challenge' to see which school could create the tallest and most sturdiest tower. Students were only allowed to use empty plastic water bottles and tape.

New Leaf Yoga Gala Featuring Eastdale Student Responses

    Once again Eastdale students have the wonderful opportunity to experience New Leaf Yoga every week. Students are guided through the practices of Yoga and Mindfulness. These practices help the students understand how internal and external stimuli can effect their everyday lives and it helps them check in with how they are feeling both mentally and physically.

      New Leaf Yoga runs a Gala every year so that they can raise funds to be able to run these programs at minimal cost to the school or students. For this year's Gala, Eastdale students were asked to write down on a card, what they would like to tell their younger selves. Several of the responses were very heartfelt and moving. Each student had their picture taken with their card which was pre Eastdale was well represented at the Gala, with these pictures being displayed on the main stage.   

       A lot of money was raised at the Gala and Eastdale will continue to have a strong partnership with New Leaf Yoga to help our students battle the daily stressors they face each day.
Thanks to Mr. Nizich and Ms. Johnston for their involvement with New Leaf Yoga.

Mental Health & Awareness Week May 7 - 11

Mental Health & Awareness Week 

Mental health impacts us all. Just as we all have physical health, we all have mental health. Our mental well-being includes our emotions, our thoughts and feelings, our ability to solve problems and overcome difficulties, our social connections, and our understanding of the world around us.At school, feeling safe, engaged and included all contribute to having a positive sense of well-being. Students need our collective support to be healthy individuals and the relationship that students have with each other and adults is an important part of that. 

At Eastdale, students and staff are planning daily activities (see below) to help support and bring awareness for our school community.

In a lead up to Mental Health Week, students from Mr. Laufer's English class haven worked with the Eastdale TV episodes created by Ms. Johnston's class in Semester one and will be leading a screening and discussion with homeroom classes on Tuesday May 1 or Wednesday May 2, focused on one of the three topics:  Racism, Homo/Trans phobia and Sexual Harassment.Students worked hard to create these resources.  The video episodes are approximately 9-10 minutes length and students have prepared discussion questions and will lead the discussions.  These presentations are also part of the presenting students' independent projects for their English credits.

Work Connections Job Fair

On May 2nd, senior Eastdale students were excited to learn about employment opportunities including onsite job interviews at 'Work Connections Job Fair' at the Ontario Science Centre and to meet John Tory, Mayor of Toronto. Thanks to Ms. Brentel for taking the students and providing ongoing support as these students make their transitions to the workplace.

Student Links Initiative @ Eastdale

Eastdale was happy to welcome representatives from Community Living Ontario’s Student Links initiative on Thursday April 26^th who met with students from Mr. De Abreu’s class.  Student Links is an initiative designed to support High School Students between the ages of 14-21, who have an intellectual disability, build on current interests and hobbies, while gaining experience from an expert or mentor in their field of interest.  Natalie and Jennifer from Community Living Ontario provided a brief presentation and fielded questions from our students.  More information is available through Guidance, or through their website.  Natalie and Jennifer will also be in attendance at our next Transitions information evening for parents and guardians on Wednesday May 30^th, from 6 to 8 p.m. here at Eastdale. 

Kudos to Mr. Perry for facilitating this opportunity for our students and school community!

Spring Newsletter 2018

Click here to view our spring school newsletter. A black & white hard copy will be sent home with mid-term report cards on Friday, April 27th. Congratulations to all students and their accomplishments and thanks to all staff for providing great opportunities / activities for students over the past several months!

Eastdale TV Goes Live! In Partnership with Regent Park Focus

Eastdale TV Goes Live! In Partnership with Regent Park Focus, by M. Johnston

A big thanks to Regent Park Focus and Eastdale students from the grade 9 and 10 English class who worked hard to create three videos that had to do with countering racism, sexual harassment and homo/transphobia. The students created scripts, worked the cameras, worked as a director or as a host and helped in the sound room.  The students were very engaged in the process.  

The final published videos are now live (click here or below)!   

Special thanks to the staff Dimitrije Martinovic & Adonis Huggins, Media Production Coordinators at Regent Park Focus, the TDSB’s Gender-Based Violence Prevention Program, Mr. Perry and Mr. Servos for all of their support with the project.

International Day of Pink @ Eastdale

We are so proud of Eastdale students' video about 'How Pink Shirt Day Began' https://youtu.be/9uOYToc0ljY. We will not tolerate bullying anywhere!

Bullying is a major problem in our schools, workplaces, homes, and over the Internet. Each year, on Pink T-Shirt Day, we encourage everyone to wear something pink to symbolize that we as a society will not tolerate bullying anywhere. A short video was created by Ms. Johnston's drama class. In addition, the questions below helped guide classroom discussions:

What are different forms of bullying?

What are examples of each type of bullying?

What are ways we can support people who are being bullied?

What are ways we can get support if we are being bullied?

Why do we wear pink today?  

A lesson in Civics by MPP Julie Dabrusin

Mr. Maniccia’s class had the great pleasure of having Julie Dabrusin (Member of Toronto-Danforth) visit the Grade 10 “Career Studies/Civics” class.  Ms. Dabrusin shared her experiences and knowledge working for the Government.  Topics included Parliament, the Senate, House of Commons, and building partnerships in the community.  Students had the opportunity to ask questions to make personal connections to their own career path.