E-mail:
carmanelm@cici.mb.ca
April/05
Newsletter
Grade 2&3 Spring
Concert, April 14,
This year's grade 2-3 concert will be a
collaborative effort between the grades 2 & 3 classes and Manitoba
Agriculture home economist Tracey Drabyk. Grade 2 & 3 students will
learn
about making and eating healthy lunches and how this impacts learning
during a
workshop with Ms. Drabyk on the morning of April 8. This workshop will
include
the making of a healthy lunch by each student. Our menu of ingredients
is adopted
from the Canada Food Guide's "Cool Lunches". We will need
several parents to help us on this morning with cleaning,
cutting, mixing, etc. Please contact the school if you are able to help
out.
Otherwise, feel free to attend.
Following this workshop on
April 14 at
Good Choices, Great
Results
Getting children to eat healthy is
common sense and a common challenge - but the results for both home and
school
are worth it! Children who eat regular, nutritious meals and snacks
show better
concentration and behaviour throughout the day.
Great Starts.
Breakfast is
key. Whole grain toast, certain cereals/porridge, yogurt, scrambled
eggs are
all great starts.
Lunch Fun. Package
your
child's lunch appealingly - think colourful finger foods like chopped
veggies
& dip, tasty rollups or fruit kebobs. Make lunch interesting and
varied.
Kidsize It. Cut
foods up
into slices, fingers or wedges and make good use of a thermos for hot
or cold
servings.
Go
Food. Cut up cheese, boil eggs, fruits & veggies and muffins as
"fast foods" for after school activities.
Fill Up. Get 6-8
cups
of fluids a day - fruit juice, milk, water, soup, whole fruit.
Get Real.
100% real juices or milk instead of
sugary or caffeinated beverages.
Work It Out. Enjoy
regular physical activity and healthy sit down meals as a family.
Bully Smart
Starting on Wednesday, April 6th
Mrs. Karen Funke will visit our grade 4 classrooms to implement a
social skills
and character building program called Bully Smart. It is intended to
build in
our children social skills to connect effectively with others,
character skills
to grow and conflict skills to cope and resolve.
The 4 specific goals of this program
are;
* to increase the number of students
who report bullying behaviour
* to increase the number of students
who help when someone is being bullied
* to reduce the number of bullying
incidents
* to create a school climate where
students feel safe from bullying
Bullying, indeed, is a type of
behaviour that is inappropriate. The Bully Smart Program talks about
bullying
behaviour, rather than the bullies themselves. The behaviour is
unacceptable,
not the person. Bullying is a concern in society, as well as schools.
Families
and communities have a major role to play in helping to prevent
bullying. The
Bully Smart Program will not make bullying go away, but will hopefully
make it
less likely to occur. It helps students to learn skills for dealing
with the
issues of bullying behaviour that they are almost certain to encounter
as part
of their life at school and in the community. Mrs. Funke will continue
to implement
this program with the grade 4 & 5 classes throughout April and May.
Along with the implementation of our
Lions Quest Program across all grade levels to engage students in
activities to
help create a respectful learning community of caring relationships and
high
expectations for positive behaviour, we feel that we have formalized
two very
effective programs to help our students build character and develop the
social
skills necessary to live safe, healthy lives.
Our school division's Code of
Conduct and Behaviour Policy, along with our school and classroom
Discipline
Plans, also provide clear guidelines for behaviour and procedures for
dealing
with inappropriate behaviour. Our goal has always been to be as
proactive or
preventative as possible in dealing with unsafe or disrespectful
behaviour
through positive day to day interaction with students. This includes
such
strategies as awarding Cool Cat Paws for kindness, school-wide Good
Behaviour
Bingos, special assembly presentations and consistent, positive
reinforcement
of helpful behaviour. Catch students being good and let them know about
it is a
most effective strategy.
With your help, we continue to work
with students on making safe choices and creating a peaceful school.
Patrol/Monitor Field Trip
On April
21/05, School Patrols and Lunch Hour Classroom Monitors will travel to
What a Difference
Over the mid-term
break, our school had some major renovations done. The entranceway,
main
hallway (gr. 1-3) and lunchroom have all received new ceilings and
light
fixtures. The look is now very clean and bright. Combined with the
shining
floors courtesy of 2 very hard working custodians, our school looks
just great.
It's up to the rest of us to keep it that way at a very messy time of
year.
"Our
school
and our children are made better by the time you give and the talents
you
share. Thank you for caring."
dks