Wayoata Elementary School April/May 2019 Page 1

Wayoata Elementary School Newsletter

River East Transcona School Division Administration Offices 589 Roch Street Winnipeg, MB R2K 2P7

Tel: 204-667-7130 Fax: 204-661-5618

Floor Hockey At Wayoata!

Read more about this activity inside this newsletter!

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At Our School Principal’s Message Kerry Cressall We left for spring break determined that when we returned, we would see spring weather, green grass and leaves on the trees. Mother Nature had a different idea. Our cold weather continued into April and the snow just kept falling. Finally, as I am writing this message, we had our first beautiful day. The sun is shining and children are full of smiles as they shed their jackets and enjoy the warm, fresh air. Smiles were also seen on the faces of parents and children just before spring break. Families visited classrooms as children shared their work from the second term. The children smiled proudly as they shared their accomplishments with their families. Thank you to all families who were able to spend time with their children during the learning conferences. Thank you also to those families who were unable to come in March but have arranged to come and meet with teachers in April. If you have been unable to meet yet, it is not too late. Just call to book an appointment with your child’s teacher. The learning conferences focus on individual efforts of students. For a more in-depth picture of the activities that children were involved in throughout the term in the classroom, you can visit the classroom teacher’s website. Each classroom community creates a writing piece as a group to share information about the learning activities that they have been involved in during each term. This writing is posted in the Class Writing tab on the teachers’ websites. Look on page 4 of this newsletter for instructions to access the teachers’ websites. In addition to the class writing posted on the website, you may also find pictures of class activities, links for students to access websites, information about class homework and information about learning activities in which students have participated. It is hard to believe that we will be closing in on the end of another school year soon. The time after spring break always goes by quickly with so many activities and events taking place. Plans are underway for activities to celebrate the end of this school year and to prepare for the next school year as well. We welcomed our new kindergarten students into the school community with the annual Divisional Growing and Learning Fair. We will have another event at the beginning of May for our new kindergarten students and their families. As we prepare to welcome students, we are also preparing our Grade 5 students for their transition to middle years. We continue to keep our students engaged in school with a variety of learning activities and special events. As a school community, we celebrated Milk Spirit Week from April 15th to April 18th. Children enjoyed a free carton of milk for snack the morning of April 17th. We dressed up to celebrate milk, dairy farmers and dairy cows. Students dressed up, drank milk and had an opportunity to win prizes. Coming up in May, we will be participating in Conscious Kindness day on May 15th. We will be working together to share kindness in our community. Stay tuned to see our students in action. On May 3rd, we are scheduled to take part in the Transcona Biz Community Wide Clean Up. This gives our students an opportunity to care for the greater community of Transcona as we work to pick up the trash left on the streets after a long winter. Each student who participates is invited to attend a BBQ sponsored by the Transcona Biz in the evening at Transcona Centennial Square. Students who wear their Transcona Biz Clean Up shirt to the square with their parents, will be able to enjoy a free hot dog. Be sure to stay tuned to our website for further information about upcoming events.

April/May 2019 School Hours

8:30 a.m. Entry Bell 10:00 to 10:15 Recess 11:30 to 12:30 Lunch 1:45 to 2:00 Recess 3:15 p.m. Dismissal

School Office Hours 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Student Absences If your child will be absent from school, or if you expect them to be late for attendance, please call the school office at 204-958-6840. You may leave a message at this number 24 hours a day.

School Address 605 Wayoata Street Winnipeg, MB R2C 1J8 Tel: 204-958-6840 Fax: 204-222-5053 Email: way@retsd.mb.ca

School Website www.way.retsd.mb.ca

Teacher Websites Go to the About Us tab Choose Staff Directory Scroll to find the teacher you are looking for, and click the website link on the right of the page.

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At Our School Wayoata School Appreciates Their Volunteers! We are fortunate to have so many volunteers who contribute to our school community in a variety of ways. Whether working directly with children, or working behind the scenes, each of their contributions is invaluable. Each week, our children benefit from the time our volunteers spend with them as they share their talents. On Friday, May 31st, Wayoata students and staff will honour our volunteers during an assembly and then will invite the volunteers to enjoy some snacks and beverages. We would like to thank our volunteers and hope that many will be able to join us for the celebration on May 31st.

Wayoata School Lunch Program Registration forms for the Wayoata School Lunch Program for 2019/2020 will be sent home with students on May 21st with a return due date of June 3rd. Please note: • The Wayoata School Lunch Program MUST receive registration forms for ALL children staying at lunch

time, whether they stay at school full time or occasionally for lunch; and • Students will only be allowed to stay for lunch on the first day of school IF registration forms AND the

first payment has been received.

Notice Regarding Fee-For-Service Busing

If you are requiring Fee-For-Service transportation, the application form must be submitted to Transportation Dept. each school year. Transportation Application – Fee-For-Service 2019-2020 forms are available from the school office or follow the Quick Link “Busing Information” on the RETSD website at www.retsd.mb.ca Fee-For-Service applications must be submitted to the Transportation Department by June 30th of each school year. Applications received after June 30th will be reviewed on an individual basis.

Camp Arnes Is Coming Soon! In June, our grade 5 students will be spending June 12th, 13th and 14th at Camp Arnes. A set of forms, including health forms and a packing list, were sent home with students before the end of April. In order to help us finalize our planning, please return those forms promptly.Please remember that the final payment and forms for camp is due on May 3rd.

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At Our School

Teacher Websites

How to find a teachers website: a. Go to the Wayoata School webpage ( www.way.retsd.mb.ca ) b. Click the “About Us” tab

c. On the drop down that appears click “Staff Directory”

d. Scroll to find the teacher you are looking for, and click the website link on the right of the page

e. Be patient, sometimes the links take a while to load

Shaking It Up! Get ready to be entertained by the Wayoata Theatre Company’s production of Shakespeare in the ‘Hood! Since January, several super talented grade 5 students have been working tirelessly during recesses, lunches and after school to put this presentation together. Yes, such famous characters as Romeo, Juliet, Macbeth and Hamlet and many others make appearances in Shakespeare’s ‘Hood. You’ll also meet Shakespeare’s alter ego, rapper Big Willie Shakes. Please join us to watch the comical story of how William Shakespeare might have been inspired to write some of his greatest plays. Performances take place on Thursday, April 25th at 1:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.

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At Our School Active Healthy Living As weather warms up and sidewalks and streets dry up, we hope our students will take advantage of having the privilege of rollerblading or riding their bikes, scooters or skateboards to school to gain all the benefits of physical activity. For the safety of our students, none of this equipment should be used on the school yard. Bicycles need to be walked and scooters, roller blades and skateboards need to be put away in backpacks upon arrival at school. Students must meet the following expectations to be able to maintain this privilege. Students riding bicycles must remember to:

• wear a helmet • always follow bicycle safety rules • walk bicycles on school property including all the sidewalks around the school and the school yard • lock bicycles in the bicycle rack at the front of the school

Students using a scooter, rollerblading, or skateboarding to school must remember to: • wear a helmet • follow all safety rules at road crossings • use sidewalks • when rollerblading, change into regular footwear once they reach the school yard • when skateboarding or using a scooter, put the skateboard or scooter into their backpack once they reach

the schoolyard

Students who are unable to meet these expectations will lose the privilege of rollerblading or riding their bike, scooter or skateboard to school. The school is not responsible for theft or vandalism of any of this equipment at school.

Spring Footwear Often during the day as we walk through the school, we will see children choosing to sit on the floor while working on activities. Our floors get very dirty when the students wear the same footwear on the playground and then inside the school.

Please make sure that your child has two pair of footwear. One pair is to wear outdoors while on the way to and from school, as well as during recess and one pair is to wear while inside the school. It is essential that the students have a pair of runners to wear in school. Runners allow the students to move safely in all areas of the school as they provide the best traction on the floors and stairs inside the school. It is important for students to change into runners as they enter the building to keep our school clean and our students healthy and safe.

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At Our School Wayoata Floor Hockey League Another exciting year of intramural floor hockey has ended as over ninety students played floor hockey during recess from January to March. The Wayoata Floor Hockey League had seven teams comprised of grade 3, 4 and 5 players all playing for a chance to win the Wayoata Cup. All teams made the playoffs that started in late February. The championship game was played on March 8th. The Flames defeated the Senators 4 to 1 and won the Wayoata Cup. The Staff versus students’ game was played before the entire school just before spring break. Mr. Behrens would like to thank Mrs. MacKinnon for her help in creating the teams and with refereeing and Mr. Kowal for supervising floor hockey as well. Wayoata students displayed fair play and sportsmanship when playing floor hockey this year and are looking forward to another year of thrilling floor hockey in 2020.

Gymnastics 2019 Our club of 60 shining gymnastic stars performed at Kildonan East School on March 19th. They performed a warmup routine to the song Shine, displayed many different gymnastic moves and then an incredible school routine to the The Greatest Showman. We are so proud of their commitment and dedication to practice for 3 months!!! Congratulations to all. A big thank you to staff members that volunteered to coach. They were: Coach Grabau, Coach Prigoski, Coach Giesbrecht, Coach Veryha, Coach LePage, Coach Cole, Coach Booz, Coach Kirby and Coach MacKinnon.

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At Our School

Ms. Gustafson/Mrs. Westmacott’s

Grade 1 and Grade 2 Class The Manitoba Moose Visit Grade 1 and 2! It all started when a boy in our class, Ryder won the Manitoba Moose Stick to Reading Contest! Manitoba Moose players #22 Kristian Reichel and #45 Luke Green came to our classroom. They read us a book called “Hayley’s Journey.” It was about a girl who played hockey. After the story, we asked the players questions. We asked them where they lived and what position they played. We asked if they had ever been hurt playing hockey. We also asked how often they played hockey and if they ever feel nervous. Luke and Kristian liked our questions. Everyone got a goodie bag! We got a book, some badges and two bookmarks. We lined up to get autographs. Then we took a group picture. We love the Manitoba Moose. We had so much fun! Thanks for coming to our classroom!

Pink Shirt Day On Wednesday April 10th, Wayoata Elementary School celebrated the International Day of Pink. The Day of Pink is a day of bullying awareness. Here is how our Kindergarten students described Pink Shirt Day: Pink shirt day is so no one bullies. Bullying is when someone is being mean to you when you are being nice to them. It hurts people’s feeling. It is being rude to someone. We don’t bully people because it will make them sad. On the Day of Pink, our Caterpillar kindergarten class and Mrs. Morin’s grade 4/5 class led our school in an assembly all about bullying and how to prevent it. Then all our students went to work in their reading buddy groups to think of some kind acts they have done to help others. Students recorded those kind acts on slips of paper that were transformed into a paper chain. Our kindness chain is a great reminder how one small act of kindness can have a big impact! Here is our Ladybug kindergarten class displaying what a whole school worth of kindness looks like!

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At Our School Transcona Biz Banner Club Each year, Transcona Biz brightens up our streets with beautiful banners created by local students. Students at Wayoata met over 9 lunch recess to create their own entries for this competition. This year the theme was “There’s no Place Like Home,” and your children had no problem coming up with many ideas for places in Transcona that feel like home! In the end, we had 67 completed banners to send off. Way to go, Wayoata! Good luck to everyone who entered!

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At Our School Leadership Celebration On April 16th we had a celebration morning of activities for all our grade 3,4 and 5 students leaders. The activities were Frogger, Delightful doodling, cup stacking and Hoppy Easter Card making. We truly appreciate all the jobs the student leaders do for our school!

Physical Education News Mrs. MacKinnon

Grade 1, 2 and 3 students are preparing to dance in the park at the end of May. We are learning ten dances that keep us “grooving” to the music! Dance is a great cardiovascular activity and helps develop coordination.

Grades 3, 4 and 5 students are learning volleyball skills and drills. We use beach balls for many activities because it’s easier to keep up and get some rallies between teams. Badminton is another net game the students will play. Intramurals Frogger is an exciting and challenging tag game with five different types of taggers. The goal is to get by all these taggers and get a piece of gold (bean bag). Grade 3, 4 and 5 students are playing Frogger at lunch. Grade 2 students are invited to participate in yoga at recess.

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At Our School Positive Behaviour Committee Update Our school has focused on meeting the playground matrix expectations for being safe, responsible and respectful at recess. Families were given a scavenger hunt questionnaire during student led conferences in March. Students and their families followed instructions to complete a short scavenger hunt that included expectations for the playground matrix and the solution wheel. Their entries were placed in a collection bin in the front foyer. The solution wheel encourages students to use problem solving to resolve issues at recess. Solutions include asking for help, walking away, saying sorry, taking turns and talking it over. The solution wheel encourages students to find alternate ways to resolve differences and it gives students options instead of escalating conflicts. The PBIS team was delighted by the many responses that were handed in. Prizes were handed out to a select number of families chosen from a random draw. The PBIS team would like to thank all Wayoata families for taking the time to complete this questionnaire. Your support is very important.

Instruction and Assessment Committee Update

Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month. Poetry is a great way to celebrate reading and writing with your child. Canada has been celebrating National Poetry month since 1998. Throughout the month of April we encourage you to share and celebrate some poetry with your children. Some ideas might include:

1. Writing some poetry with your child: this could be serious or funny, rhyming or not. Poetry can be whatever you want it to be!

2. Read some poetry books with your child 3. Share some of your favourite poems with your child 4. Make some acrostic poems using your child’s name 5. Make some rhymes together

Here is a poem by Shel Silverstein we would like to share with you. Have a great poetry month!

Invitation By: Shel Silverstein

If you are a dreamer, come in

If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer... If you're a pretender, come sit by the fire

For we have some flax-golden tales to spin. Come in! Come in!

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At Our School Education for Sustainable Development As a school-based committee our goal for the 2018-2019 states: 85% of children will understand the global impact and importance of sustainability in environment and Children’s Rights. As a school we work every day to teach rights and responsibilities in all that we do and say, both in the classroom and on the playground. We continue to support our sister school in Nsambwe Primary School in Uganda. We encourage all children to use a reusable water bottle at school.

We continue to encourage all students to participate in the weekly litterless snack day, held every Friday morning. We, as a committee, track Friday snack data and display results on a large chart paper. All Kindergarten students were given a reusable container at the beginning of the school year. If you need a container we would be happy to provide you with one. We continue to ask that your child help you pack their snack or pack their own litterless snack. Litterless is defined as anything reusable, recyclable or compostable. Sending an apple or banana is an easy way to help your child do their part. Each week that your child’s class meets or exceeds the goal of 80%, the class is rewarded by adding 10 pompoms to their classroom bucket.

Litterless Love the Earth

It is easy to do

Today

Tomorrow

Everybody needs to help

Really quite easy to do

Love the Earth

Each person do your part

Someone needs to care

Save the planet

By Room 202

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At Our School

From the Library Learning Commons Mrs. Falconer Literature The Kindergarten classes are listening to stories about seasonal change and focusing on different art media that is used to create the illustrations in a picture book. Website to Visit https://www.storylineonline.net/ Storyline Online receives over 100 million views annually from children all over the world. The SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s award-winning children’s literacy website, Storyline Online, streams videos featuring celebrated actors reading children’s books alongside creatively produced illustrations. Readers include Viola Davis, Chris Pine, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Costner, Annette Bening, James Earl Jones, Betty White and dozens more. Reading aloud to children has been shown to improve reading, writing and communication skills, logical thinking and concentration, and general academic aptitude, as well as inspire a lifelong love of reading. Inquiries Mr. Behrens’ grade 4/5 class created essential questions to study the Inuit culture. Using non- fiction, reference materials and artifacts, they are continuing to research a variety of sub topics. Technology All students visit the Wayoata Elementary Website to learn about important school information and access a variety of Library Services. Please remember that your family can access these same sites from home. For example, the students use a friendly search engine called Kiddle, instead of Google. The grade 1/2 students continue to work on their keyboarding skills. This is challenging because the keyboard is upper case letters and they are printing with lower case letters. Mrs. Giesbrecht and Ms. Prigroski’s classes are focusing on Canadian symbols. They have listed a variety of people, places and objects in columns on a Word document. Their next step is to build PowerPoint presentations and celebrate our country. The Grade 4 students have been busy builders, learning about creative design and 3D imagination. They use unplugged technology such as wooden blocks, Lego, wires, marbles and magnets to secure some pieces together.

Music News Mr. McPherson April is music month in Manitoba schools and the students at Wayoata have been celebrating every day! We have been practicing our listening skills, working on labeling tempo, dynamics, instruments and instrument families. We began with a musical story, “Peter and the Wolf” in which each instrument represents a particular animal throughout the story. Ask your child what instrument matches with these characters: Duck, Bird, Cat, Wolf, Peter, Grandfather, and Hunters. They should also be able to tell you about how the instruments create their sounds!

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In Our School Community

Community Connector We sure have been busy in room 9 since we’ve been back from spring break! Stay & Play has started up again on Wednesday mornings from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. We have had a great time making art, reading, singing, playing and sharing a snack. This free program is for families with children up to kindergarten age. Kindergarten students are welcome to come every second week when they are not in kindergarten. Stay & Play will run until June. We also have 2 programs running on Mondays. Wheels on the Bus started up Monday mornings and we learn about cars, trucks, trains and more. Growing Up Green is an outdoor program on Monday afternoons where we learn about nature. If either of these programs interest you, please contact me to see if there is still room. I can be reached through the school office or by email acole@retsd.mb.ca There is still time to register for any of our Countdown to Kindergarten events! If you have a child entering kindergarten in September, there are great free programs to help get ready. There are Kindercamps, Growing & Learning events and home visitor opportunities. If you’d like a copy of the Kinderlinks newsletter please email kinderlinks@retsd.mb.ca Allison Cole Community Connector

FREE INCOME TAX RETURNS

At ACCESS Transcona (845 Regent) EVERY Tuesday & Thursday

From March 5th 2019 to April 30th 2019 FROM 9:00 AM TO 3:00 PM

No appointments necessary, it is first come, first serve (you may have a short wait time)

The Criteria is an income level of: Single: $30,000; Couple: $40,000;

Single with Dependent: $35,000; Child: $2,500 each Investment: less than $1,000.

You must bring with you the following identification: SIN, DOB and Name (spelled correctly)

MHC- Manitoba Health Card is very helpful.

Contact Stacy Boone, WRHA Community Facilitator at 204-223-6535 or sboone@wrha.mb.ca

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At Our School Wayoata School Calendar 2018-2019 Subject To Change - refer to school website at www.way.retsd.mb.ca for updates. Changes will appear in bold.

Apr. 25 Grade 5 Drama Club Play 1:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. 25 Hot Lunch (WSCC) 26 Coordinated Day - No Classes All Day 29 Popcorn Sale May 3 Community Wide Clean Up 8 Greening Committee Pizza Lunch 8 2:30 p.m. Early Dismissal 8 6:00 p.m. Day in Life of Kindergarten 10 Community Wide Clean Up (Rain Date) 13 6:00 p.m. WSCC Meeting Parents Welcome 13 7:30 p.m. Lunch Program Mtg Parents Welcome 20 Victoria Day (School Closed) 24 Hot Lunch (WSCC) 27 Popcorn Sale 31 9:00 a.m. Volunteer Celebration Jun. 5 Greening Committee Pizza Lunch 12 Grade 5’s at Camp Arnes 13 Grade 5’s at Camp Arnes 14 Grade 5’s at Camp Arnes 20 Grade 5 Farewell 20 K-4 Celebration 24 Popcorn Sale 28 Last Day of Classes 28 2:15 p.m. Early Dismissal 28 Report Cards Published to Parent Portal

Litterless Snack Just a reminder that every Friday, students at Wayoata School will practice reducing

garbage with a litterless snack. Please consider sending a reusable container for your child’s snack or a fruit/vegetable that

can be composted.

Bloomers

Greenhouse Fundraiser

Orders will be available for pick up on May 15th

between 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.

If you can, please bring a box (or other ‘carrying device’) to take your order home in! Thank you!