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November 2017 Newsletter

Whonnock Elementary 27471 112th Avenue, Maple Ridge, B.C. V2W 1P9

Principal: Mr. Stuart Richardson T: 604 462 7612

Website: schools.sd42.ca/Whonnock srichardson@sd42.ca

Message from the Principal:

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Things move fast at an elementary school in November/December and we’re no different at Whonnock. Some recent highlights include the kindergarten trip to the moon, Book Fest Magic Gala, Wonder screening, a successful volleyball season, the Big Map visit, our Neufeld and Purdy’s fundraisers, and our powerful Remembrance Day assembly. Through all these events, I continue to be proud of our awesome students who never cease to impress me with their kindness, caring, and positive attitudes—it really is a pleasure to be a part of the team at Whonnock.

Some events of note coming up include our student-focused conferences this Wednesday and Thursday. It is our intention that you will have a chance to see how your child is doing and have a conversation with your teacher to see where you can support your child’s learning as well as where we’re seeing successes. Please be sure to stay in touch with your teacher in order to schedule a conference (if you haven’t already). When the conference is complete and the student has identified their goal/s for the next term, I’ll sit with them outside their classroom and review their goal/s and then sign their report card at which time it will be sent home. I’ll collate the goals anonymously by grade and send them all out to you as well. I will also be sending out a letter regarding attendance shortly. If you receive one of these, your child has missed or been late for several days of school. I know many lates/absences are beyond anyone’s control, but our expectation is that students will be on-time and at school as often as possible. Thanks for your understanding and support.

On another note, our bus driver has asked that I remind you that student riders need to stay seated and refrain from eating on the bus. These requests are safety related so he respectfully requests your support with them.

Respectfully,

Stuart Richardson 604 626 1772 srichardson@sd42.ca

Upcoming Events December 1 Skating, Div. 9 & 10 December 4 Lunch Lady December 5 Skating, Div. 4 December 7 PAC Hot Lunch December 8 Purdy’s pick up December 11 Lunch Lady December 14 Skating Div. 2, 8, 11 PAC Hot Lunch December 18

Christmas Concert Dress Rehearsal Lunch Lady December 19 Christmas Concert A – L: 9am M – Z: 1pm December 20 Grouse Mountain – Div. 8 December 21 PAC Hot Lunch

December 22 Last day of school before Winter Break December 25 – January 5 Winter Break Important Announcement

NOTE: READ newsletter carefully and keep as a reference as there are numerous important school information items. Many of these items will not be repeated in future newsletters.

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Important School News

INCLEMENT WEATHER: December and January typically bring a few days of snow or ice. If you wake up to snow on the ground please check the district website, http://www.sd42.ca/inclement-weather-procedures, the district Facebook and on local news stations by 6 A.M. If you are on a bus route, the “snow bus route” would have already been sent out, it is also available on the district website.

SAFETY IN THE SNOW: Students are reminded to be sure they are dressing appropriately for the weather. Recess and lunch are usually held outside so, in winter weather; rain or snow, proper warm boots, toques, gloves and coats are a must. If enough snow falls, students are permitted to bring sleds for some of the hills on the property. These sleds must be stored outside of the school during instructional hours. As the weather changes, some areas might be shut down due to safety.

SNOWBALLS!! Just a reminder that throwing snow in any form can be dangerous. This year we will attempt to facilitate a supervised safe zone for snowball throwing with clear boundaries, rules, and expectations. Those not wishing to throw snow will be able to enjoy the snow by building forts and snowpeople outside of the throwing zone. Unsafe snowball throwing is VERY dangerous and will be taken seriously by the school. Thank you for your cooperation.

EMERGENCY PROCEDURES – POWER OUTAGE:

As we experienced back in October, power outages can and will happen at Whonnock. Our protocol for power outages is as follows: Decisions in regards to dismissal of students comes from the School Board office and is based on a number of factors; BC Hydro repair estimates, time of day outage occurs, current weather. Updates and notifications on the outage will be done through the school district website and through the parent

portal. If students are to be released, an announcement will be posted on the district website and the parent portal. Teachers will begin calling families and releasing students from the classroom. Parents will be signing out their students from the classroom, NOT the school office. Thank you for your patience in these situations.

At Whonnock we CARE At Whonnock, we CARE about ourselves, each other and our school. We use our Common Sense, have a positive Attitude, Respect ourselves, others and the environment, and put forth our best Effort. We would like to thank the following students for demonstrating our Code of Conduct for the Month of November 2017.

Div. 1 Mikalah Div. 2 Ava Shayna Hunter Isaiah Div.3 Elise Gwen Eva Arrow Rachel Div. 4 Noah Lauren Kyle Ashlyn Zach Anjali Jenna Emilee Kailey Gillian Lyvi Elly Ashlyn Phoenix Alex Div. 5 Kamryn Aidyn Vi Jessica Isaiah

Div. 5 Ava Colton Evan Lea Deston Div.6 Samantha Logahn Noah Steven Emily Nevada Jarod Darren Aly Steven Darren Div. 8 Mateo Seamus Div. 12 Isaiah Liam Sofia Jordan Lily Jack Div.13 Julien

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More Important News

CHRISTMAS CONCERTS – Tuesday, December 19th 9:00 A.M. and 1:00 P.M. Please mark your calendars! We are busy preparing for our annual Whonnock Christmas Concert scheduled for Tuesday, December 19th at 9:00 A.M. and 1:00 P.M. Doors will open for each performance at 8:30 A.M. and 12:30 P.M. respectively and the shows will begin promptly.

Due to limited gym capacity (fire regulations) and our growing population, we will be giving out a limited number of tickets, each family will receive two tickets for either the morning or afternoon performance. Students whose last names start from A-L will receive two blue tickets allocated to your family for the 9:00 a.m. performance. Students whose last names start from M-Z will receive two red tickets allocated to your family for the 1:00 p.m. performance. If you are unable to attend the time assigned, please feel free to trade your tickets with another family. If you will not be using any or all of your tickets, please have your child return them to the school. Tickets will be sent home with youngest child on Thursday, December 7th.

We will have a few additional tickets for each performance. A family can request one extra ticket; however, there are limited additional tickets. First come, first served on December 8th. We will have a wait list and will call if any tickets are returned. In order to enter the gym you will REQUIRE a ticket. We want everyone to enjoy the Christmas Concert without safety concerns.

VOLLEYBALL:

This term our school entered girls and boys recreational volleyball teams made up of students from grade 6 and 7. Ms. Kotwal and Ms. Gill coached the boys and Ms. Nelson and Mrs. Durant the girls. There were some awesome rallies and it appeared all students had a fun experience as they improved their skills. We are most grateful to our coaches for volunteering as well as our parents who drove to games and came to watch. Basketball season starts in January.

BOOKFEST:

Under the capable guidance of Ms. Jennings, we had a big group of dedicated readers attend several events culminating in the FINALE this coming Wednesday at the Maple Ridge Public Library. The students have all read at least 5 of the 7 books and are well versed enough in them to compete against other schools. Good Luck Team!

KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION DATES FOR 2018/2019 SCHOOL YEAR: Kindergarten registration will take place via the Parent Portal. If your child will be 5 years old on or before December 31, 2018, then you can register for upcoming 2018/2019 school year.

Sign your children up today for a $1,200 B.C. Training and Education

Savings Grant

British Columbians are encouraged to sign up for a $1,200 grant for their children’s post-secondary education and training.

To be eligible, the child applying must have been born in 2006 or later and must be at least six years of age when they apply. The child parents/guardians must both be residents of British Columbia.

Signing up for the grant is as easy as stopping in at your local financial institution and following these simple steps:

1. Bring social insurance number (SIN) cards for both the child and the parent/guardian.

2. Sign the child up as the beneficiary of a Registered Education Savings Plan.

3. Complete the application at your financial institution.

4. No additional contributions are required.

Learn more at the Ministry of Education website:

https://goo.gl/ep8bgJ

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Registration will be taking place in four stages:

Sibling Registration – January 4-10, 2018

Choice Registration – January 18-22, 2018

General Registration – February 1-8, 2018

Late Registration – March 28-June 7, 2018

All phases open at 12:00 noon and close at 11:59 pm.

GRADE 8 REGISTRATION: All Grade 8 Registrations for the 2018/2019 school year will be done online through the Parent Portal. Registration dates will be posted in January 2018. Please read the procedures/guidelines on the school district website. There is no late phase for grade 8 this year. Parent who miss the March 1 online deadline must complete a paper registration form at their catchment school. Parents will be notified after Spring Break of their child’s high school placement. Parents wishing to transfer schools must complete a transfer request form at the school they were assigned to. A review of these transfer requests will be completed before the grade 7 orientation in May.

LOST AND FOUND: The Lost and Found collection is constantly growing, please regularly check for missing items. This collection will be donated on a monthly basis if items are not claimed.

A key fob has been turned into the office, if you are missing one please check into the office. A flash drive was also found outside, if you are looking for one please let the office know.

PAC

Purdy’s orders will be ready for pick up on December 8th at 2:20 p.m.

There will be one more meeting this on Monday, December 11, 2017 at 7:00 p.m. in the library.

P.A.C. NEWS

NEXT MEETING:

Monday, December 11, 2017

7:00 pm

Library

January meeting:

Monday, January 15, 2017

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THINKING COMPETENCY AT WHONNOCK

The thinking competency encompasses the knowledge, skills and processes we associate with intellectual development. It is through their competency as thinkers that students take subject-specific concepts and content and transform them into a new understanding. Thinking competence includes specific thinking skills as well as habits of mind, and awareness of thinking about thinking.

For more information about the new curriculum, visit http://www.sd42.ca/new-curriculum.

Coming in January 2018 – Personal & Social Competency.

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Kindergarten students at Whonnock learn and construction and building.

Primary students at Whonnock finding patterns and learning to write.

Core Competencies: What are they and why are they in the new curriculum?

The new curriculum centres around the following three core competency areas:

communication, personal and social, thinking. They are sets of intellectual, personal,

and social and emotional proficiencies that all students need to develop in order to

engage in deep learning and life-long learning. Competencies are evident in every area of learning and in every

grade, and come into play when students become actively engaged in their learning. During the school year,

students will have an opportunity to self-assess their proficiencies in these core competencies.