Welcome Back Newsletter



Welcome Back Everyone!             
                                                     École Victoria School

le 11 septembre, 2012                                      

Chers Parents,

Bonjour!  We trust you all had an enjoyable and restful summer.  September is such an exciting month!  For teachers and students, it’s a month of change and new beginnings - new surroundings, reuniting with old friends as well as making new ones.  It is a time for new experiences, learning new skills and facing new challenges.  We are looking forward to teaching your child and learning more about him/her throughout the school year.  Your child will take part in new and exciting challenges and will be involved in many special events and activities planned throughout the year.  Please take time to discuss each school day with your child.  Ask open-ended questions and offer positive feedback.  Your constant interest will play an important part in your child’s learning success. 

Once again, we are Mme Karyn Hegarty and Mme Chantelle Tessmann and we will be your child’s grade 1 teachers for the 2012-2013 school year.  Mme Hegarty works full-time at the school (half-time in our grade one class and half-time doing general release within the school).  Mme Tessmann works half-time in our grade one classroom only.  Our job share schedule will be as follows:


Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
AM
Mme Tessmann
Mme Tessmann
Mme Hegarty
Mme Tessmann
Mme Hegarty
PM
Mme Tessmann
Mme Hegarty
Mme Hegarty
Mme Tessmann
Mme Hegarty

There are other teachers that will be teaching and working with your child as well.  They are:
·         Mr. Brent Schneider and Mrs. Alexis Beaman for Phys. Ed. classes, 
·         Mrs. Cathy Graham for Music classes, and;
·         Mrs. Yvonne Denomy for some Social Studies and First Nations content.

School Attendance
Your child`s attendance is very important to his/her success in grade one.  Much of the learning in French Immersion happens through teacher-led activities, which cannot be made up for at home.  Please be sure that your child attends school regularly except of course in cases of illness, emergency or special family circumstances.  Always notify the school before 9:00 AM if your child will be late or absent.  Please remember that every day is a new day so if your child is going to be absent for several days, we need a phone call each day to let us know, unless you inform us of several days absence in advance.  The safety and whereabouts of each child is our number one priority so if your child is absent and we haven’t heard from you, we worry. 

  If you will be picking your child up early from school for an appointment, please notify us by phone or in your child’s agenda so we are aware of what is going on.  When you arrive to pick up your child from school, please check in first at the office and ask Mrs. Roach to buzz our class so he/she may come to the office or you may come directly to the classroom door to pick him/her up yourself.  If for some reason you will ever be late picking up your child from school, please contact the school immediately so that we know what is going on.  If we know that you are going to be late, your child will be taken to the office to wait for you there.  Thank you.

Changes Personal Information
Please remember that it is very important for you to update any personal information with the school as soon as possible should anything change throughout the year.  This would include: change of address, phone numbers, medical information, alternate contact numbers, bus information, etc.  Thank you.
   
Room Parent(s)
We are in need of a room parent for our class.  This could also be a shared position between two parents.  A room parent’s duties typically are to assist teachers in a variety of ways as well helping to call parents when volunteers are needed for school activities.  If you are interested in putting your name forward for this position, we would greatly appreciate it!  Please let us know as soon as possible by way of a note in your child’s agenda or a phone call (683-7470).  Merci!
Outdoor Recess
All students are expected to go out for recess during the school day unless it is raining or extremely cold.  Please keep this in mind when helping your child choose his/her clothing for the day.  Also, be mindful of the footwear your child is wearing, as dress shoes are not ideal for climbing on the play equipment on the playground.  Our general feeling is, if your child is well enough to be at school, we consider your child well enough to go outside for recess.  However, if on the rare occasion you feel it is necessary that your child stays indoors for recess, please send a written note in your child’s agenda informing us of this and we will make arrangements for your child to stay indoors.

Student Footwear
Students are expected to have a pair of indoor running shoes to wear in the school and for phys. ed. class at all times.  These shoes need to be left at school from day to day so that they are always available.   Unless your child can tie his/her own laces, please do not send lace-up shoes to school for your child.  Velcro shoes make it easier for teachers and for your child when students are putting on their shoes.
Change of Clothes
Occasionally students in grade one have accidents or end up with wet clothes during wet weather days.  Students are encouraged to keep an extra set of clothes in their backpack or in a plastic bag in their locker should a dry set of clothes be required.

Money and Book Orders
There will be occasions where your child will need to bring money to school – ie. Scholastic book orders, hot lunches and/or milk tickets.  Always send money in a ziplock bag or a sealed envelope with your child’s name on it and the amount sent.  Please send the money to school in your child’s sac vert (green bag).

Throughout the year your child will receive a Scholastic Book order form.  You are under no obligation to buy these books.  However, these are good quality books usually at a lower price.  As an added bonus, the money students spend on books ordered also gets us bonus points which we can use to purchase books for the class.  If you choose to buy books for your child, please fill out the order form(s), include your child’s name, and return it with a cheque made out to Scholastic Canada.  Always put this order form along with the cheque in a plastic bag or envelope and send it to school in the sac vert.  If ordering from more than one Scholastic order form, you can write one cheque for the total combined amount.

Birthdays and Special Occasions
Birthdays are special occasions for young children.  If you wish, you can provide a nut-free treat for all of the students in the class.  We do have a student in our class with a severe nut allergy so please always keep in mind that École Victoria School is a nut alert school and it is very important that any food that comes to school does not contain nuts or nut products! 

Parent Teacher Communication
Please call either one of us at the school (683-7470) if you have any concerns or questions.  We strongly feel that teacher/parent communication is very important for your child’s maximum success at school.  We check our e-mails frequently so if you prefer communicating via e-mail you are welcome to contact us this way as well and we will try to reply in a timely fashion.

Please keep in mind that Mme Tessmann only works part-time so it is important if you choose to communicate by e-mail that you send it to both Mme Hegarty hegartyk*at*spsd.sk.ca and Mme Tessmann tessmannc*at*spsd.sk.ca.  We would like to reduce the amount of paper we use for communication purposes so if you would like to receive classroom updates electronically, please fill out the attached form and return it at your earliest convenience. 

There is a lot of information to share with you at this time and we realize that we may not have answered all of your questions in this letter.  We will send you another update related to curriculum content as we get more settled into our class routine.  We are very excited about this up-coming year and we look forward to teaching your child.  Again, please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns you may have.

Sincerely,
Mme K. Hegarty and Mme C. Tessmann

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