EARL GREY SCHOOL
NOVEMBER 2009

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Happy Hallowe’en!  We have had a great two months of school with many large and small successes.  As I write this, our school is featured on the Winnipeg School Division’s website with Marina Halligan helping Gillian G. to plant perennials.  Our school garden was blessed on Oct. 2 by an elder, Flora Zaharia, and the students in Room 21 helped to plant some Aboriginal plants and some perennials that we are looking forward to seeing come up in the spring.

Our first assembly featured Ms Tattersall’s class doing a beautiful song on Respect, one of the Seven Teachings.  One of our audience members was so impressed with the work that the children did that she contacted the Free Press and there will perhaps be an upcoming article on how students at Earl Grey are taught ways to resolve conflict, using respect for one another.

Comprehensive Assessment Program Testing has just about been completed in our elementary classrooms, and teachers will use these results to help guide their teaching.  The first term report, which you will receive on Nov. 17 will let you know how your children did and what the next steps in programming will be for them.

Special thanks to Lyla Gushulak, the person from Parent Council who is in charge of fundraising.  She has done a great job on our magazine subscription sales, and the sale of other products and we thank all of you as well for supporting this fundraiser.

We welcome Mr. Walter Crockford to our school for about 10 weeks.  He is replacing Mr. Armstrong until January.  Mr. Armstrong is the proud father of a new son, and he is taking some parental leave time.

We invite all of you to attend our Remembrance Day assembly on Nov. 9 at 1:30 in the Open Area.  Our students will be given poppies to wear for our assembly and are invited to bring some change that day to support our veterans.

I thank the staff and students for their wonderful work these past two months!

Yours truly,

Gail Singer

NURSERY & KINDERGARTEN REPORT
Mr. Jamieson

Wow, it’s November already.  I guess time flies when you’re having fun!  Both Nursery and Kindergarten have been extremely busy.  We survived the excitement of Hallowe’en and are finishing off the Comprehensive Assessment Program.  We have also recently opened two new exciting activity centres in our classroom.  The sand table and the painting station are officially open.  You’ve probably noticed a few stray pieces of sand in hair and paint under finger nails.  The students are all very excited to take part in exploring these new centres.

OPERA TICKETS

We will be receiving 5 opera tickets for the dress rehearsal of “The Barber of Seville” for Thursday, November 19 at 7:30 p.m..  The intention of these tickets is for parents to take our students.  It happens to be the evening of our Student Led conferences, but these are also held on Friday November 20.  Please call Mrs. Singer if you are interested.  We will also have some tickets to “Carmen” on April 15 later this school year.

NEWS FROM ROOM 12

The students of Room 12 have been learning about what communities are and the important people that belong to them.  After learning about fire safety and the importance of firefighters, Room 12 went to visit the local fire station.  The students got to sit in the fire truck and learn about the equipment firefighters use to protect themselves.  The highlight was watching the lights and sirens on the fire truck as it drove away to a call!  This month we will continue to learn about communities and we will begin our study of farm animals.

  Ms. N. Radons   

Top Sellers of the Entertainment Books

Brooke B. (Rm.16) - 12
Micazz K. (Rm. 27) - 11
Robert P. (Rm.14) - 9                          
Will H. (Rm.16) - 9
Mackenzie L. (Rm. 27) - 7                          
Damien M. (Rm. 31) - 6
Victoria G. (Rm. 15) - 4
Morgan W. (Rm. 31) - 4

BUILDING STUDENT SUCCESS WITH ABORIGINAL PARENTS

Once again this year we have a special grant to help encourage parents and guardians of Aboriginal children to be as involved as possible with their children’s education.  We are thinking of making Room 13 into a Parent Room and we will be holding a meeting there on Nov. 4 at 9:00 a.m. to see if any parents or guardians have any ideas on what might be helpful to you.  Ms Colette Wood, our Aboriginal Liaison resource person, and Donna Martin, our Social Worker, will both be in attendance.  Refreshments will be served. 

We hope to see you there!  All parents are welcome to attend.

  EARL GREY PARENT COUNCIL FUNDRAISER

We will once again be selling poinsettias and door swags for the holiday season.

Please watch for Shelmerdine’s colourful order forms to be sent home in November.

Thank you for your continued support.

Marina Halligan  (Earl Grey Parent Council)

  INSERVICE FOR PARENTS, VOLUNTEERS AND STUDENTS
(Grades 6-12)       
Study Strategies That Make a Difference

All students can benefit from key strategies to improve learning and memory in all subjects.  Plan to attend a strategy-packed evening for parents and students (gr. 6-12).  You will learn many practical ways to improve your learning, memory and reading comprehension.  These suggestions may help you and your family in your lifelong journey together.

This is a suitable evening for adult learners in our division as well.

DATE: Thursday, November 5, 2009
TIME: 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
LOCATION: Grant Park School (450 Nathaniel St. at Grant Ave.)
PRESENTER:   Carol Hryniuk-Adamo (Certified Reading Clinician, CGC)

To Register Call: 453-1748

KOATS FOR KIDS

Information for Parents and Guardians

· Parents can submit orders to Koats for Kids by contacting the school or daycare their child or children are enrolled.  Orders can also be placed through a United Way agency partner.  For a complete listing of agency partners, visit www.UnitedWayWinnipeg.mb.ca.

· Parents can contact Koats for Kids Directly by Phone at 586-KOAT (5628) or email at koats@UnitedWayWinnipeg.mb.ca.

· The following information is required for all Koats for Kids orders:

* First and last name of parent or legal guardian

* Telephone number where parent/guardian can be reached

* Child’s gender

* Child’s size (not age)

* Name and address of school, daycare or agency partner where coats will be picked up by parent/guardian.

· Koats for Kids will contact parents/guardians to let them know when they can pick up their winter outerwear from the location specified in the order.  We ask that the parent/guardian of the child personally pick up their order from the selected school,  daycare or agency partner to protect the child’s privacy and dignity.

BRICK FUNDRAISER FOR SCHOOL GARDEN

The Earl Grey Parent Council is having a brick fundraiser for the school garden.  The bricks (which are regular sized 4” x 8”) can be personalized with up to 28 characters to create a short message such as “John Henry October 2009” or “I love the Earl Grey Garden”.  The bricks will be placed into the school garden around the borders of the beds in the spring.  Each brick is $30.  Please fill out and return the order form by November 17, 2009.  The bricks will be engraved after an order for at least 30 has been made.  A tax receipt will be issued through the Children’s Heritage Fund once the bricks have been made.

Thanks for your support.
Katalin Nagy & Marina Halligan

Earl Grey School Garden Brick Fundraiser

Each brick is 4”x8”.  There can be two lines of print. 

Each line can have 14 characters, including spaces and punctuation.

  Name of Donor: ___________________________________________________

Mailing Address of Donor:  __________________________________________

  _________________________________________________________________

  Phone Number:    _______________________________________________

BRICK INSCRIPTION

Donation: $30.00

Make your cheque payable to:

Earl Grey School Parent Council

Forward cheques to:

Earl Grey School Parent Council

340 Cockburn Street

Winnipeg, Manitoba R3m 2P5

Room 11 News

We welcomed some new additions to our classroom early in October.  The new additions came in the form of red wiggler worms!  We have started a worm composting farm and hope to provide our new school garden with some really healthy soil come the spring.  These worms have been enjoying our lunch leftovers and the paper shreddings that the office donates.  We are working hard to figure out exactly what the worms need—too much “green” food and our worms get pretty stinky.  We need to balance the green food (like orange peels) with “brown” or carbon food, like dry leaves or paper.  So far, the worms seem to be thriving, and we’ve done a pretty good job keeping the smell to a minimum!

  Submitted by Mrs. Friesen

PARENT COUNCIL MEETINGS

As a school, it is very important for parents and staff to work cooperatively together for the good of the children.  We welcome your input and invite all parents to come to the Parent Council Meetings.  Babysitting is being provided, but this may be discontinued if the service is not used.

Gr. 3 Provincial Assessment

The following parent brochure regarding the assessment is posted online at www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/assess/gr3/index.html

· Your Child and the Grade 3 Provincial Assessment