Dear parents / guardians,

Greetings, my name is Gwynneth Hall. This year I am teaching the Gr. 3/4 homeroom class. I'm excited to begin a new school year with you and your child. Welcome to our class!

I have been teaching at Perth PS for the past nine years as a primary homeroom teacher, rotary teacher, ESL teacher and special education teacher. I have been teaching with the TDSB for nineteen years. Previously I lifeguarded and instructed swimming for Toronto Parks and Recreation and the TDSB. My secondary school focus and post-secondary education was in Fine Arts; Visual Arts. My hobbies and interests are education and teaching, reading, quilting, knitting, embroidery, movies and TV shows, visual arts, current events, cycling and travelling.

I look forward to meeting you in September and getting to know you and your child. I would love to hear from you if you would like to share some things about your child that you'd like me to know. Please feel free to write a letter or send me an email. Here is some information about our class;

• Gr. 3/4 class has 5 gr. 3s and 18 grade 4s

• The teachers are Ms. Creedon Music; Ms. Fulton Drama and Dance; Mr. Gow H.&PE.; Ms. Hall - homeroom: Language, Mathematics, Science and Technology, Visual Arts, Social Studies; Mr. Hodgson Gr. 4 French; Ms. Lee Resource Support

• The classroom 106, is on the 1st floor, near exit 3 (north door to schoolyard)

• Our virtual classroom is on the Brightspace platform. The Brightspace classroom is called Ms. Hall's Class. The url address to login is https://tdsb.elearningontario.ca/d2l/login. The Brightspace classroom is up and running. Students can login to Brightspace and use the waffle to find their classroom, Ms. Hall's Classroom. Parents can register by going to the login page and clicking on register.

• Our class website has information about education, programming, resources, equity and inclusion, the physical classroom, the virtual classroom

• Programming foci: Equity and Inclusion; STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Arts Math); Project based learning; Inquiry and research; Growth mindset; The Arts

• New curricula: Science & Technology, 2022; Mathematics, 2020; Health and Physical Education, 2019

• Curriculum - The Ministry of Education has a curriculum website. This is a great resource for parents and teachers. The url is https://www.dcp.edu.gov.on.ca/en/. Each subject curriculum has three main sections; Assessment and Evaluation, Resources and Parents. Parents can find parent guides in each subject area.

• TVO Learn is also listed in the Parents webpage and in the Resources section of the curriculum website. It is a great resource used by teachers, students and parents. We will be using TVO Learn a lot this year in class.

Technology

I use Brightspace (D2L) as a virtual learning environment (VLE) or classroom. Brightspace has visual, audio and video features that make it very accessible for all users. Here are some highlights;

• Ms. Hall's Classroom homepage is organized in widgets.

• Units and lessons are found in the Content area. This can be found in the navigation bar at the top of the homepage.

• Minds On activities may be posted in the Announcements widget with links to lessons in the Content area

• The navigation bar, at the top of the homepage, has links to frequently used websites.

• Brightspace also has a portfolio tool which students use regularly to document our learning.

• In the activity feed, class information will be posted for both parents/ guardians and students.

• The calendar has the daily agenda, list of events, and links to Zoom meetings.

Instructions for Parents to Connect to Brightspace - Optional BUT highly recommended

• The Brightspace classroom and portfolio are key communication tools. Students and parents are encouraged to use it a few times a week to stay up to date with class information and for students to document their learning in their digital portfolio in Brightspace Portfolio.

• Here is a link to instructions on how to create a parent/ guardian Brightspace (D2L) account. You will need this account to connect to your child's Brightspace account. From your account you will receive helpful information about your child's learning, progress and what's happening in class. Please go to the TDSB Brightspace Parent website (link below) to see the infographic about the Brightspace parent account.

• This is the link to the TDSB Brightspace Parent website that has lots of helpful information.

Instructions for Students

• How to log in to Brightspace. The url is https://tdsb.elearningontario.ca. It is helpful to bookmark this login webpage to the bookmark bar for easy access. Students need their school credentials to login. The username (9 digit number) and password to log into Brightspace is the same as logging into the AW / school network.

• How to find your class. Click the waffle at the top. Select Ms. Hall's Class. It is helpful to pin the classes you use so they appear at the top of the list of classes.

• More information on how to Log into Brightspace and Find Your Classroom /Course (link) - Please scroll down this webpage to find the information.

Please feel free to explore the TDSB Virtual Library, our Brightspace classroom and the Brightspace parent account space. Below you will find helpful information about student credentials for logging into Brightspace, TDSB AW and/or Google.

• Student credentials - Students will need to login with their nine digit username (student number) and password. Ms. Hall will reset student passwords for the upcoming school year to "hall".

• It is also important that students know their Google email address in order to use it to login to Google devices, websites, apps. Email addresses for students follow this format; firstname.lastname@student.tdsb.on.ca. Please note students may need to practice spelling their last name and a small number of students have a number after their last name.

• If you need assistance with usernames, please contact Ms. Hall asap at gwynneth.hall@tdsb.on.ca.

There is more information on our classroom website, The Classroom webpage about technology such as the student BYOD option.

If you have any questions, concerns or need technical support, please feel free to contact me.

Gwynneth Hall (she/her)

Elementary teacher

Class Website

Perth Ave. PS

14 Ruskin Ave. T.O., M6P 3P8

(416) 393-1410

TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT

1. Contact your teachers via email firstname.lastname@tdsb.on.ca

2. Visit the Student Virtual Learning IT Support webpage

https://www.tdsb.on.ca/School-Year-2021-22/Virtual-Learning/Student-Virtual-Learning-IT-Support

3. Contact the teacher, vice principal and/or principal if you are still unable to resolve the issue you are having