Dear Parents and Guardians,

It is hard to believe that December is upon us! It is a busy time for us all this season, and we are looking forward to many fun-filled days at Viola Desmond as we countdown to the winter break. Our Intermediate Spirit Team have created an exciting week for us starting on Monday, December 14th!

Innovation is a key part of developing our instructional program. The use of technology is only one of the ways we use innovation to foster engagement, develop rich tasks that involve critical thinking skills and maintain high levels of academic achievement. Here are two examples of outside of the box thinking! Why not combine the math strand of measurement and hands-on learning to compete in the Measurement Olympics? Students were able to measure their findings and apply concepts learned in class to a fun, practical application, such long jump or cotton ball shot put. Collaboration is also a key part of our innovative practices. Our kindergarten and grade 7/8 classes are Equity Buddies. They are integrating literacy to discuss the importance of our unique identities and develop communication skills during their Google Meets. Our kindergarten students have a lot to say about who they are, and they are motivating our intermediate students to share aspects of themselves during these shared learning opportunities. We continue to be amazed by the depth of learning taking place at Viola Desmond PS.

Some parents have asked if gifts are permitted for teachers as they would like to express their appreciation. Your child's teacher will let you know their preference for gifts. Ultimately, we can keep them for three days until we touch them. If you do choose to give a gift, please do not give any food prepared from home, just to be safe. Please do not send in treats or gifts for your child's classmates as we are not permitted to send those items home. We will have to return loot bag items home. We thank you for your consideration.

Durham Region entered the Red Zone two weeks ago. Your child's safety continues to be our top priority. We are following strict safety protocol and procedures to keep our building clean and high touch areas sanitized. We strongly recommend that students in kindergarten to grade 3 wear masks. Please send in extra masks for your child as well in case they get wet or dirty. We ask that parents and guardians do their part as well, by adhering to the mandatory wearing of masks while on school property and near students. We are in this together!

We hope you have a fantastic week!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Brusselers and Mrs. Thomas - Administrative Team

December is:

Bodhi Day (Buddhism) - December 8

Bodhi, (Sanskrit and Pāli: “awakening,” “enlightenment”), in Buddhism, the final Enlightenment, which puts an end to the cycle of transmigration and leads to Nirvāṇa, or spiritual release; the experience is comparable to the Satori of Zen Buddhism in Japan. The accomplishment of this “awakening” transformed Siddhārtha Gautama into a Buddha (an Awakened One).

Human Rights Day (UN) - December 10

2020 Theme: Recover Better - Stand Up for Human Rights

This year’s Human Rights Day theme relates to the COVID-19 pandemic and focuses on the need to build back better by ensuring Human Rights are central to recovery efforts. We will reach our common global goals only if we are able to create equal opportunities for all, address the failures exposed and exploited by COVID-19, and apply human rights standards to tackle entrenched, systematic, and intergenerational inequalities, exclusion and discrimination.

10 December is an opportunity to reaffirm the importance of human rights in re-building the world we want, the need for global solidarity as well as our interconnectedness and shared humanity.

Under UN Human Rights’ generic call to action “Stand Up for Human rights”, we aim to engage the general public, our partners and the UN family to bolster transformative action and showcase practical and inspirational examples that can contribute to recovering better and fostering more resilient and just societies.

Hanukkah (Jewish) - December 11-18

Hanukkah, which is Hebrew for “dedication,” is the Festival of Lights.

It commemorates the victory of the Maccabees over the Syrian Greek army, and the subsequent miracle of rededicating the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and restoring its menorah, or lamp.

The miracle of Hanukkah is that only one vial of oil was found with just enough oil to illuminate the Temple lamp for one day, and yet it lasted for eight full days.

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

Maya Angelou