The Nook is Happy to Introduce the Tweens Program!! For Girls age 9-13
Please contact The Nook for more details.

The Nook After School

The Nook After School Program operates from September to June, following the grade school calendar (this should be the link to a list of Nook holidays and important days). We are currently situated in Alex Duff Recreation Centre at the northwest corner of Christie Pits Park in Toronto’s West End. The Nook currently picks up children from the following schools: St. Raymond’s Catholic School, Essex Public School, Hawthorne Alternative School, Montrose Public School and Dewson Street Public School. A “walking school bus” picks up children at the end of the school day and provides programming at Alex Duff until 6 pm. In a collaborative effort with program staff, volunteers, funders, students and community partners, The Nook After School Program provides the following opportunities for local children from September to June:

One-on-one tutoring and creative literacy programming
Nutritious food and innovative health education
Life-skills programs (Cooking Club, Conflict Management, Anti-Oppression Workshops, Peer Volunteering)
Dynamic and diverse Arts programming (visual arts, drama, music, dance)
Dynamic and diverse Sports/Recreation programming (team sports, co-operative games, tournaments, team-building activities)
Access to free biking through the Pedal Pushers Community Bike Borrowing Program
Special Events including an Annual Film Festival, Art Exhibits, Nook Idol and creative performance opportunities including an annual Musical Theatre Production
Opportunities to participate in community events and learn from local artists
Venues for positive communication and collaboration between diverse ethnic and cultural communities
Innovative environmental education including tending two garden plots in the Christie Pits Community Garden
Early intervention with regards to violence prevention and gang involvement
Volunteer opportunities for youth, seniors, students and others

All Nook programs are provided free to children between the ages of 6 and 12 from local low-income families

For registration information please contact Alia at the Christie Ossington Neighbourhood Centre.

854 Bloor St. W. on the North side of Bloor between Christie and Ossington.

416.534.8941 x 36

Nook Newsletter

April 2011

Hello Nook Families!

Spring has finally sprung! We are very excited for the warmer weather and soon we’ll start preparing the Nook Garden. April will be a busy month here at the Nook, so we wanted to let you know about some of our amazing upcoming programming.

As many of you know, the Nook is putting on a Fashion Show!! We have been busy making outfits, jewelry and accessories for the big event. The Fashion Show will be on Thursday, April 21^st from 6-7pm and will be held next door to our office at 850 Bloor St. W. Please bring your whole family and all your friends!

Another exciting big event for the Nook will be the making of the Nook Film in the month of May! The Nook film will be screening at our Gala Premiere at the Bloor Cinema on June 4^th, 2011. We will be holding Auditions soon for the acting roles but all the Nook kids will be getting involved in the film: filming, making costumes and props, helping with animation, composing music, etc. If you would like to get involved, please talk to a member of staff!

We have included a Model Release Form for your child in this package. It means you give the Nook the right to show your child’s photo or moving image- for instance, your child participating in the Nook film or us posting photos of your child on our website. Please return a Model Release Form to a member of staff as soon as possible. Thank you!

Two of our Co-Op students, Mikaela and Christina, will be coordinating their second Parenting Workshop on April 28^th, from 6:30-7:30pm. It will be held at 854 Bloor St. W. and childcare and snacks will be provided. Please spread the word to local caregivers and join us if you can!

Lastly, please note that the Nook will be closed on Friday, April 22^nd and Monday April 25^th for Easter Weekend.

Happy Spring!

Love,

Nook Staff

Nook News 2008/2009

The Nook was a hive of creativity and productivity this past year. We rennovated our Alex Duff space so that all the rooms were brightly coloured and welcoming. This year we were happy to launch a Parent Resource room where Nook caregivers could come meet other families and drink some coffee or tea while while perusing many parent resources. We also initiated monthly Community Parenting Workshops where we discussed practical skills and lead group discussions, covering a range of topics such as family resources, behaviour problems/discipline, play ideas for children, managing stress and support for sole-parent caregivers.

Literacy

Nook literacy involved writing articles, stories, poetry and word games for the Nook Zine along with regular spelling bees, storytelling, rap battles and literacy booklets specifically tailored for Nook kids on a variety of topics such as nutrition, handling emotions, and community-building. Please contact us for your very own (free!) copy of the Nook Zine! The Nook also provided one-on-one academic support for higher needs children and daily homework help.

Arts

Nook kids participated in many different art activities this year, including clay sculpting, photography and film workshops, "Art in the Style of..." various fine artists, a trip to the Gardiner Ceramics museum, dance workshops, crafts, printmaking, and drum circles. The Nook knitting club also knit up a storm all fall and winter. With the help of the L.O.F.T. recording studio, the Nook kids also made the first ever Nook Cd this year, featuring original hip hop and pop music. The Nook Cd is selling for $7, with all proceeds going to the Nook. Please contact us if you would like one!

Sports

Daily sports programming included seasonal activities like ice-skating and toboganning, along with a wide range of sports like European handball, basketball, wrestling, soccer and baseball. We also did team building activities, aerobics, large group games like Capture the Flag and a had a Soccer Tournament.

Health and Well-Being

The Nook had a weekly Yoga club where children could learn yoga and how to meditate. We had many Life Skills discussions throughout the year ranging from topics like anti-oppression (sexism, racism, homophobia, etc.), abuse, bullying, divorce, and living in sole-parent families. The Nook also had programs on health and nutrition, puberty, dealing with stress and other important health and well-being topics.

Mad Science

We participated in many scientific endeavours this year, including making our own slime, constructing marble runs out of found materials, body/mind experiments, smell tests, and an egg drop.

Cooking Club

Cooking Club continued to thrive this year with the creation of many healthy, simple meals created from scratch such as: sushi, fortune cookies, salsa, guacamole, burritos, curry pie, stained glass cookies, banana blueberry muffins, ambrosia and more. As well, the Nook kids, parents, staff and volunteers prepared food for two Community Potlucks which included lasagna, garlic bread, salad, curry, chocolate cake, cupcakes and other delicious food that was then shared with the whole Nook community.

March Break Camp

This spring the Nook was pleased to have its first ever March Break Camp, which involved fun activities like fort-making, mask-designing, knitting, cooking applesauce, hosting a Tea Party for Nook families and of course playing lots of sports and games. We also had field trips to Riverdale Farm, Trinity Bellwoods Pool and an Amazing Race throughout the city.

Special Events

The Nook hosted many special events this year, such as a Graffiti Party (where we made graffiti art, learned breakdancing and discussed graffiti murals as art), Earth Day Community Clean Up (where we designed Earth Day t-shirts and then did a clean up of Christie Pits park), Nook Idol and a Penny Carnival in Christie Pits with games like bean bag toss, lawn bowling, and tug-of-war. We also had two Community Potlucks (with a Nook Cd Launch Party) and had a Fundraising night where we screened National Film Board Shorts. Thank you to the whole community for making all our of special events such a success!

We are all looking forward to another year of the amazing Nook After School program!

2007/2008

This year so far we have been up to a lot! As you know, in September we opened The Nook in an almost brand new space. The Alex Duff Pool Building has come to be a great home for us. Our new space has let us really focus on our three separate major areas: Arts, Literacy, and Sports. We now have separate place for Homework and Literacy work. As well we also have a separate Arts room, and a full functioning large kitchen. With much more space we are able to do more with our programming especially with the Cooking Club!

Nook Cooking Club

Secret Recipes from the Nook Kitchen With our access to a fully functioning kitchen, The Cooking Club now runs every Tuesday and Thursday. So far we have created tons of delicious and nutritious recipes! Some of the amazing dishes the Nook kids have created are:

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Vegetarian Chili,
Spicy Pumpkin Loaf
Cheesy Risotto
Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins
Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce
Chinese Fried Rice
Mini Pizzas
Zucchini Bread
Chocolate Birthday Cake

Everything we make is from scratch and homemade. As well as teaching our Nook kids the fundamentals of cooking techniques we are also trying to broaden their understanding of health and nutrition, food preparation, budgeting, and presentation and planning. Interestingly some of the best ways to teach children about other important social issues such as environmental concerns, and politics is through cooking class. We can trace our use of products and foods to their source and look at the impact our decisions have on our environment and the world around us.

The Nook Donation & Education Center

The second service we have added along with our Nook Shop is our Nook Donation & Education Centre. Our donation and education centre is a place where families can come and look through donated brand new educational items. These items are children-focused. We have things like books, toys, games etc. all for free for Nook families!

This new addition will help us provide more useful information and educational resources for our families at no extra charge. The goal of this donation and educational resources centre is to be a resource during every school year and to expand our homework help program. Should you have any questions or ideas or suggestions about the donation and educational resource centre please let us know!

Fun Field Trips - Bulls in a China Shop!

This year so far we have been fortunate to organize several field trips for various Nook Students. The first trip we went on this year was to the Gardiner Ceramic Museum on Queens Park. There the kids from St. Raymond’s Catholic School saw ceramics from around the world. Some of the pieces were from Ancient China, and Japan, Ancient South American pottery, and Early European porcelain. This trip was particularly funny. Of course one of the last things a Ceramic and Pottery Museum full of priceless ancient artifacts, wants to see is a group of 8 rambunctious 6-10 year olds! As we entered the museum, I saw the faces of the security guards and the reception greeters, pale. But in the end the kids showed the museum staff that they are an amazing, and interested group eager for the new experience. And though there was some running around and ruckus- thankfully nothing was broken!