March 2, 2015

Newsletter #5

http://Kitchener.sd41.bc.ca

Kitchener Elementary School 1351 Gilmore Ave Burnaby BC V5C 4S8

Phone 604-664-8727

Find us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/KitchenerSD41

Follow us on Twitter - https://twitter.com/kitchenerSD41 or (@kitchenerSD41)

School Growth Plan

Goals

• Literacy

• Social Responsibility

Individual Highlights:

Principal’s message 1

Upcoming Dates 2

Satisfaction Survey 2

Kitchener Goals 3

Community News 3

PAC Meeting:

Thursday, March 5th

6:30 p.m.

Principal – Mr. A. Yam Head Teacher – Ms. K. Clark Secretary – Ms. L. Quer Trustee: Mr. R. Burton

Paint the Rink Pink – Feb 18, 2015

Spring Break School will not be in session from Monday, March 9th to Friday, March 20th. Please mark your calendars.

Sunday, March 8, 2015: Don’t forget to move your clocks forward 1 hour at 2:00 AM

The end of February has brought many changes and exciting activities to Kitchener. From the exciting Valentine’s activities, Grade 7 Public Speeches, the winding down of basketball season, the start of tennis lessons, to the upcoming Primary Days of Music and 100’s day celebrations; there have been so many events and learning happening.

Thank you to the entire Kitchener Community (staff, students and parents) for making these special events part of our culture.

Anthony Yam Principal

“You can't cross the sea

merely by standing and staring

at the water.” Rabindranath Tagore

On Time for School

Being on time for school is important. Even arriving 5 minutes late can be disruptive to learning. A reminder of our bell schedule is:

8:55 Warning bell: students come into the school and prepare to start the day

9:00 Bell: start of the instructional day. Students are in their desks and ready for morning announcements

Students who routinely arrive at or after 9:00 typically:

1.

1. Miss morning announcements 2. Arrive in the middle of

classroom routines which can disrupt the class

3. Take up office time by requiring a welcome slip and documentation of being late

4. Take up teacher time by requiring a repeat of directions or class announcements

It’s amazing how quickly the time adds up. If a student is even 3 minutes late each day, that is 15 minutes over a week; building up to 1 hour a month and 2 full school days over the course of a school year. This can simply be changed by tweaking the morning routine by even 5 minutes. When you consider the impacts mentioned above, I’m sure you would agree it’s well worth it.

Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA)

Foundation Skills Assessments for Grades 4 and 7 students have been completed. Parents will receive the marked test booklets Tuesday, March 31st. If you have any questions, please contact the school office.

Kitchener Elementary

Upcoming Dates Feb 19 – March 6 Tennis Lessons March 3 Boys Basketball Playday (Kitchener) Primary Days of Music (Kitchener) March 5 PAC Meeting (6:30 p.m.) March 9 – 20 Spring Break March 27 Report Cards Home March 31 Celebration of Learning Assembly School Spirit Day - `Look-a-Like Day``

Satisfaction Survey 2014/15 - Attention parents of grade 4 & 7 students!!!

The Provincial Satisfaction Survey is unique in its scope, size and usefulness to schools. It gathers information from parents, teachers, and students on topics related to school environment, safety, and achievement. The information is used for planning in individual schools and provides a district and provincial perspective. In the spring of 2015 the Satisfaction Survey will be administered to students in grades 4 and 7, their parents, and all school staff. We encourage parents to participate in this survey, as the results are important in identifying and celebrating current strengths, as well as determining where the school needs to focus improvement. The surveys contain standard questions for the Province – in addition, questions from the school and/or district that focus on local conditions or issues may be included. This year, the survey can be completed electronically and can be accessed on the Internet through the link on our school website http://kitchener.sd41.bc.ca or directly at www.bced.gov.bc.ca/sat_survey. Any computer with an Internet connection can be used, and access to the e-survey is simple and secure. All that is required is a logon number that the school will provide to participants. Provincial, District and School Reports for previous years can be viewed at the same site, without a logon number. If you need access to a computer, parents are welcome to call the school to arrange to use the computers in our lab. For parents who do not wish to use school computers, local public library computers may be another option.

The e-survey site will be open until April 30th A letter to parents will be sent home with students in grades 4 and 7 with anonymous logon numbers. If you do not receive your logon number this week, please contact the school.

Primary Days of Music The Grade 2 & 3 students from Kitchener will be participating in the Primary Days of Music. Kitchener students will perform songs for the other schools, as well as enjoy listening to others perform. This annual choral event involves the majority of the upper primary students in the district at various locations. Kitchener will be hosting this year on Tuesday, March 3rd. Due to space limitations, parents are unfortunately not invited.

Professional Day (February 20th) February 20th was a district-wide professional day. Burnaby teachers and support staff had choices of workshops in areas such as technology, literacy, assessment and daily physical activity; as well as opportunities to work on their own individual areas of professional growth. In addition, there was a choice of keynote addresses by Gabrielle Scrimshaw, Co-founder and President of Aboriginal Professional Association of Canada and Myles Himmelreich, who spoke about FASD.

Page 2 of 3 Kitchener Newsletter

The Kitchener Growth Plan

While we attend to many curricular and developmental areas, our school plan allows us to focus on specific areas. The staff develops school goals with input from our school planning council. This year’s school goals are: Literacy: Improve performance in reading comprehension for all students K – 7 Social Responsibility: Self-Regulation and Self-Empowerment

Literacy @ Home Tips Share their love of books and reading. Parents may say to children, "This was my favorite book when I was your age" or "I can't wait to start my new book Talk about what they read and encourage children to think, solve problems, and make predictions. Parents may discuss the books a child is reading, then ask questions such as, "Did you ever...?" or "How would you

feel if that happened to you?

Social and Emotional Development @ Home Tips

Model behaviors that you want to see in your child. Parents are their child’s first and most important teachers, and what they do can be much more important than what they say. Be especially careful of criticizing teachers or other trusted adults in front of the child. Be consistent with limits for your child and encourage all caretaking adults to use the same rules. If you must enforce a rule, do this with supportive understanding. Don’t give in, but do quickly forgive. Do not hold a grudge for past mistakes. Encourage learning from mistakes so that they do not happen again. Catch your child being good! Praise your child often for even small accomplishments like playing nicely with

brothers or sisters, helping to pick up toys, waiting her turn, or being a good sport.

Community Announcements

Attention Grade 5’s!! Have you got your FREE pass to go swimming, skating and more? If you are in grade 5 and live in Burnaby you are eligible to participate in many Burnaby Parks & Recreation activities for free until August 31, 2015. Print off the Canada Gets Active brochure and a Pass-to-Pass form from Kitchener’s website, have your teacher sign it, and take it to your local recreation complex, where they will issue your “Burnaby b” card. Every time you go to a recreation facility, simply scan your card at the front counter to be admitted for FREE! It’s that easy!

Burnaby Parks n Rec After School Programs Flyers will be sent home soon with each student advertising our after-school and community programs. Please click here ( http://www.burnaby.ca/Things-To-Do/Be-Active-Programs/Programs-for-Everyone/After-School-Programs.html ) to get more information. We hope to see your child in one of the after school programs soon!

RED CROSS BABYSITTING! Kitchener Elementary School, Apr 27, 2015, 8:30-3:30 11+Yrs $60 + GST online registration http://firstaidhero.com/babysitting-vancouver.html

Page 3 of 3 Kitchener Newsletter

Saturday, , 201 starting 1 mApril 11 5 0:30 a

EVENT SCHEDULE:

� Pick up kit between March 9

and April 2

� April 11 - Event day:

1 : 0 m0:30 to 11 0 a :

Sign in and submission of

bridges

11 am to 3 :pm

Testing of bridges

3 to 4 :pm

Prize distribution

Other “Engineering Day” Events

Come out to the onBonsor Recreation Complex April 11

between and pm for many other10:30 am 4 fun

engineering related events. The eventsand geoscience

are free for children of all age groups and their parents.

You will have the opportunity to meet many professional

engineers at this event andand learn about geoscience

see some exciting displays.

Bonsor Recreation Complex - 6550 Bonsor Avenue, Burnaby

Professional Engineers

and Geoscientists of BCBurnaby Public Library

www.bpl.bc.ca

APEGBC’s Burnaby and New Westminster Branch, Burnaby Public Libraryand Burnaby Parks and Recreation present

HOW TO TAKE PART:Go to the , Burnaby Public Library, 6100 Willingdon Ave., betweenMetrotown BranchBob Prittie

March 9 April 2and to register and pick up an official kit of bridge-building supplies. You may sign up

as a group with not more than 5 members. All participants must be current elementary secondaryor

school students.

Register and pick up a kit only if you are sure you can participate and attend the event. Only 1 kit per

registration will be provided because of the limited number of kits available. Before receiving a kit, all

participants (or groups) are required to sign a completion form agreeing to the return of a finished

bridge project. All bridges are expected to be designed and constructed by student participants,

not by adults.

Prizes will include several $100 gift cards. For further information E-mail .bn@apeg.bc.ca

SPONSORS:

CH2M HILL www.ch2m.com/corporate

BC Hydro www.bchydro.com