First text books by school text-book publishers are now going digital only. This follows years of a demographic downward slope in student numbers, coupled with two years of cuts [in Ontario] in text-book funding. US sales of K-12 textbooks dropped 16.9% in 2011, year over year. In this environment McGraw-Hill launched its first all-digital, cloud-based [...]
May 29, 2011
Year 3 Roll-out List SCDSB FDK
Early Learning Program will be added to the following schools for year 3 of the roll out MOE Site Selection Conformation March 2, 2011 ( download full memo and list for Ontario) Simcoe County District School Board • Allandale Heights Public School • Ardagh Bluffs Public School • Brechin Public School • Connaught Public School [...]
May 29, 2011
Where is the money for FDK – after the election?
Capital funding announcements for the Full Day Kindergarten program, were announced in April in SB-09, for the upcoming budget year. It looks good, it sounds good, but does it fall short? Is this all a bit of smoke and mirrors? Where will the money be for the expensive renovations needed next year, after the election? [...]
February 28, 2011
Ready Set JK ( incl. video)
The SCDSB is currently registering students for the Junior & Senior Kindergarten programs for fall 2011. Children must be 4 years of age by Dec. 31, 2011 to enter JK. There are currently 88 public elementary schools throughout the county (map pdf) . A school search by area is available on the SCDSB website [...]
December 23, 2010
Open House – Extended French Program
The Extended French program iis available in 9 elementary schools with the SCDSB. The program starts at the grade 5 level. January open house meetings will be held at each of the program locations listeed below. Admiral Collingwood ES – Thursday, January 6 – 6:00 PM Alliston Union PS – Thursday, January 13 – 7:00 [...]
November 24, 2010
New Financial Literacy Curriculum on the way
Update: Toronto Star : Feb. 28, 2011 Province Aims to to teach kids hot to manage money Nov.24, 2010 Original Post The world has been reeling since 2008 from a variety of economic issues. Fundamental to all the pieces around stock markets, mortgages, and financial instruments is the simple basic understanding of risk and [...]
October 12, 2010
Special Education Report SCDSB 2010-11
Special Education plans have been replaced by Special Education Reports for 2010-11. Special Ed Report 2010-2011 – (pdf) SCDSB Identified Students ( see page 10)
September 20, 2010
Opening French classrooms a hit
The story “A classroom makes all the difference for teacher” (Simcoe.com) on the subject of opening previously closed classrooms, is probably one of my favourites for 2010. Sometimes change take time to grab-hold and effects to be seen. Excellent initiatives in differentiated learning that were started over the last three years, are just now showing [...]
August 28, 2010
Children’s Treatment Network Special Needs Fair
Parents of special needs children sometimes have difficulty finding support groups. Within Simcoe County we are very lucky to have the Children’s Treatment Network (CTN) of Simcoe York. The organization focuses on both Simcoe County and the Region of York. CTN is currently scheduling their 2010 Information Fair for Oct. 21, 2010. This is an [...]
August 11, 2010
Revised Elementary School Health Curriculum
The “Revised” New Ontario Health Curriculum for grades 1-8 was recently made available to the public. There was a great deal of discussion about the report’s content when it was first released last April. At issue was whether the newly added sex education component was appropriate, if so at what age should the information be [...]
