Happy Mother’s Day to all our families!

 

Thank you for your support and cheering during our annual Track Meet. Our Wolfpack excelled through their track and field events. We appreciate their sportsmanship, strong effort, resilience, and work to keep our area clean. It was a great day in the sun!

 

Next week, we invite our newest Wolves to our Welcome to Kindergarten event. We are excited to meet these soon-to-be-Kindergartners and show them our amazing school.

 

We are grateful for our wonderful community. Thank you for all that you do for our school. We also appreciate the amazing environment that we teach and learn in. Many of our classes are exploring the plants and animals that call South Arm home. We hope you and your family can share this learning on the weekends!

 

We also thank all the moms, aunts, grandmas, cousins, and families for everything you do for our children. We hope you are treated well this weekend.

 

We hope our community enjoys an amazing weekend!

 

PRO-D and LONG WEEKEND.

Friday, May 19 is our next pro-d day. Whiteside will be closed for the pro-d day and on Monday, May 22 for Victoria day. We hope you enjoy the long weekend.

 

HOT LUNCH

Our next Hot Lunch Day will be featuring pasta and chicken strips from Boston Pizza on Thursday May 18th, 2023. Thank you, PAC!

 

SPRING FAIR UPDATES

Our awesome PAC and community are welcoming back our Spring Fair on May 25^th. Please save the date! So much work has already begun. Thank you!

 

Family volunteers help make this event a success and we hope you can join in the fun. To volunteer please sign up here: volunteersignup.org/AFCRK. We still need Cake Walk donations too. Cake Walks are an easy way to help. All we need is a homemade or store-bought baked treat to donate.

 

Our delicious treats and food are available for pre-order. Please visit Munchalunch (https://munchalunch.com/home.html ) to order.

 

Classroom basket donations can be delivered to your class any time. Our basket raffle is a fun way to raise money and give back to our lucky winners. Each class has a theme for their basket. Families can purchase and donate any item they feel would fit their theme. We also need some parent volunteers for each class to collect the items and create the basket. Please reach out to your classroom teacher if you can help. Our themes are:

Lee: Sugar Overload

McCuaig: Garden Party (seeds, spades, shovels, gloves, etc.)

Howells: Caffeine Addict

Pelletier: Summer Preparedness Kit

Badrnejad: Fruity Fun

Kaminski: Arts and Crafts

Swordy: Whitecaps - Soccer

Quan: Snacks from Around the World

Gagnon: Afternoon Tea

Kunc: Baking supplies

Wong: Arts and Crafts

Robie/Dennill: BBQ

Kinsey: Summer Fun

Yuan: Snack Attack kit

Lee: Family Fun – puzzles and games

Beck: Movie night

Evans: Beach Day

We look forward to May 25^th and the fun that it will bring!

 

ENERGY SAVINGS WORKSHOP

As we all know the impact of inflation affected us all the gas prices, groceries and even eating out are quite expensive. However there are some ways we can save, like the energy we are using at our own home. Below is the graph of how much energy we used in percentage at home.

 

Attending our workshop on Energy Savings can help you save money, know the different energy rebates and increase the comfort and safety of your home.

 

Please come and join us to our workshop on Tuesday May 16^th for 9-10:30am at Cook Multipurpose Room.  To register scan the QR code in the attach poster.

 

CLASS PLACEMENTS  

Please see the attached letter with information regarding class placements.

 

NOTICE OF LATE RETURN 2023-2024

The attached form must be completed for any student(s) who anticipate a delayed return to school in September and will not be in attendance by 12:00pm on Wednesday, September 6, 2023. Please return the form to the school principal by June 23, 2023.

 

Please note that student absences at the start of the school year result in missed opportunities for valuable social connections, instructional time, and establishment of routines and expectations. The reason for a late return to school should only be for extenuating circumstances.

 

Please be advised that any student not in attendance before end of the school day on September 14, 2023, will not be guaranteed a placement at École Élémentaire James Whiteside Elementary School. This may result in a placement at another school upon return.

 

In the event of an unforeseen critical family circumstance occurring after July 1, 2023, that causes an unexpected late return to the school, the parent must advise the school as soon as possible by email (whiteside@sd38.bc.ca).

 

HOLDING ONTO OUR KIDS IN A DIGITAL WORLD

As part of Mental Health Week, Dr. Deborah MacNamara led a virtual session for parents, guardians, and caregivers on Holding Onto Our Kids in a Digital World this past Tuesday. The video link (click here) to this presentation is available until May 16, 2023. Please note the presentation is tailored for an adult audience, not children. (Passcode: 0vd1y^B&)

 

A summary of the presentation:

As if parenting wasn’t hard enough in having to deal with screens, peer pressure on kids - and then we had to add a pandemic on top of it! How can we hold on to our kids so we can influence and guide them? What do kids really need from us so as to grow into socially and emotionally responsible beings? This presentation will discuss issues from technology to peer problems and how parents are the ultimate answer for what kids need most of all. Practical suggestions for (re)building strong relationships with kids from preschoolers to teenagers will be discussed along with managing challenging behaviour - including screen time!

 

BIO: Dr. Deborah MacNamara is the author of Rest, Play, Grow: Making Sense of Preschoolers (or anyone who acts like one), and her children’s picture book, The Sorry Plane. She is on Faculty at the Neufeld Institute and Director of the counselling practice, Kid’s Best Bet.

 

PARKING LOT SAFETY

Please help keep our students safe by using the drop off zone for picking up and dropping off students only.  Please do not leave your car unattended in the drop off zone or park in staff parking spots; if you need to come into the school, please park in a parking space closer to South Arm Community Centre.  When walking to school, please use the designated paths south and adjacent to the driveway as you enter the school grounds. Please follow arrows to keep our students safe and keep our parking lot accident free.

 

Please remember the east parking lot is for school and construction staff only. Please do not park or drop off children in this area.

 

KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION

Richmond School District 38 is excited to welcome kindergarten registration applications for children born in 2018, turning 5 in 2023. These children will begin kindergarten in September 2023. Online registration is open now. Please visit our website http://www.sd38.bc.ca/kindergarten for more information about our online registration process, required documents, important dates, and FAQs.

 

WEST COAST WEATHER AND OUTSIDE PLAY

• Please remember that all students will be going outside for recess and lunch, except in extreme weather conditions. 
• Physical activity has a positive impact on learning.
• If kids are well prepared to be outside in the rain, they really enjoy it. If they stay dry and warm there is a great deal of fun to be had in all kinds of weather. To be prepared to be outside in the rain it is important for your child to have appropriate clothing such as:
  • A rain jacket.
  • Rubber boots
  • Rain pants
  • An umbrella
  • A rain hat or coat with a hood
  • *A change of clothes to be kept at school (sweatpants, underwear, socks, t-shirt, etc.)
  • When students use their change of clothes, please send another set to school for the next time.

 

SCHOOL VISITORS

In the interest of safety, everyone entering the school must check in at the office. Classrooms are busy learning places and we try not to interrupt them during instructional time.  If you need to see your child, leave them a message, or drop off a lunch, our office staff will happily take care of that for you.  As well, it is difficult at the end or beginning of the school day for our office staff to have in-depth discussions with parents.  Making appointments either by phone or in person is preferable. Thank you for your support!

 

 

Coming Soon:

May 11             Track meet

May 17             Welcome to Kindergarten

May 19             Pro-D

May 22             Victoria Day – school closed.     

May 23             McRoberts Gr. 7 day

May 25             Spring Fair

June 7              Shayna Jones presentation

June 13             K/1 and 6/7 Immunization

June 16             Sports Day

June 23             Gr 7 Farewell

June 27             Intermediate pool day

June 29             Last day for students

 

 

We wish you all a wonderful weekend!

 

~Whiteside Elementary