Hi Whiteside Families,

 

Thank you for supporting an amazing week at Whiteside. This week we celebrated kindness by coming together for Pink Shirt Day. Numerous classes contributed performances, videos, and songs to this special day. We learned about Pink Shirt Day and how important it is to be an ally and upstander.

We also appreciate the caring conversations you joined in with your children and teachers. Learning conferences are a great way to see into the classroom and explore the good work your children are doing.

Thank you for your support at our Book Fair. Ms. Tsougrianis and Ms. Kawas appreciate their parent volunteers and the generous donations from our community.

Thank you for your ongoing support of Wolfpack basketball. Our seasons are slowly wrapping up and our grade 7 boys’ team and grade 6/7 girls’ team will be at McRoberts on March 11 – 13 for the annual Strikers tournament.

Spring Break is only a couple weeks away. We look forward to great learning and wonderful experiences in our classrooms leading up to the break.

 

Thank you for all your care and support. You make Whiteside a special community to learn, teach, and play.

 

The Richmond Board of Education acknowledges and thanks the First Peoples of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language group on whose traditional and unceded territories we teach, learn and live.

 

Coming Soon:

 

Mar. 8              Hot lunch

Mar. 14            Talent Show

Mar. 14            Last day before Spring Break

April 2              Whiteside re-opens

April 17            Class photos

April 25            Term 2 reports published

May 1-3            Grade 6 Outdoor Education trip

May 13             Speed Control concert

May 17             Pro-D day

May 20             Victoria day

May 22             Welcome to K event

May 24             Ian Maskin concert

June 4              Gr. 7 rafting trip

June 21             Grade 7 farewell celebration

June 27             Last day of school for students

 

 

HOT LUNCH ORDERS OPEN FOR SUBWAY DAY ON MARCH 8

Our next Hot Lunch Day will be on Friday March 8th featuring Subway sandwiches.

 

MORNING ROUTINES AT WHITESIDE

Our Wolfpack are expected to enter school from their outside doors until 8:45 a.m. Please ensure that your children make their way to the back of the school to meet their teachers. This ensures that all children are met by their teacher or supervising adult and can begin the day with their class.

Play n’ Eat is on Friday mornings only. Only students in our breakfast program may enter the gym early during the week.

 

WHITESIDE BASKETBALL

Our Whiteside basketball season is about to start. Our coaches this year are Mme Howells, Mr. Lenz, Mr. McCuaig, and Mr. Pelletier.

 

WOLFPACK BASKETBALL SCHEDULE - GIRLS
March 11-13	3:15 PM	Strikers Tournament

 

WOLFPACK BASKETBALL SCHEDULE – GR.7 BOYS
March 11-13	3:15 PM	Strikers Tournament
WOLFPACK BASKETBALL SCHEDULE – GR.6 BOYS		Home	Away
Tuesday 03/05/2024	3:15 PM	Whiteside	Errington
Thursday 03/07/2024	3:15 PM	Whiteside	McKinney

 

SPRING BREAK

Please remember that Whiteside will be closed from Friday, March 15 – Monday, April 1. We will welcome back our Wolfpack on Tuesday, April 2

 

HEALTHY EATING HABITS

Creating a healthy food environment (The factors that affect your food choices, including whether you are able to access food, the types and quality of foods available, and the health information you need to make informed decisions) by shifting the focus to healthier foods helps children in many ways. It can:

• increase their access to healthy foods and drinks.
• limit their exposure to highly processed foods and drinks.
• show them what healthy meals and snacks consist of.
• help them use what they learn at school about healthy eating in other environments.

Learn more at:

https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/tips-for-healthy-eating/parents-and-children/

 

WHITESIDE READING INFORMATION OF THE WEEK

Have conversations before, during,  and after reading together. Having conversations when reading with children helps them develop higherlevel thinking and language skills, such as predicting, problem solving, or contrasting. While reading books aloud, ask the child questions and talk about the content of the story together before, during, and after reading.

• Use open-ended questions to ask the child to think about the book’s messages and what is happening. See the box below for examples of questions to ask children when reading different types of books.

• Ask the child to apply the book’s messages to the world around him by connecting events to his own life.

• Ask more and more complex questions, so the child continues to build her vocabulary and language skills.

Example questions for informational books that explain facts about the world, such as books about animals:

• Why do birds fly south for winter?

• Why is it important to recycle?

• What would happen if you planted  a tree in the desert?

Example questions for narrative books that are about a series of events,   whether fictional or nonfictional, such as stories:

• Why did the character do what he did?

• What else could she have done?

• If you were in that story, what would you have done?

Having conversations about what they are reading helps children build vocabulary and develop skills using language typically found in school settings. Building their skills to think and connect ideas from many contexts allows children to follow more complex language, which they might find in stories, instructions, and descriptions of historical events or nature.

 

PARKING LOT SAFETY

Although the mornings are getting brighter, it is important to mindful in our parking lot. Our east parking lot is closed to parent drivers. Please use the South Arm lot or our drop off lane. Students and families use the crosswalks in front of the school all day. Please be mindful of pedestrians and other cars when driving in front of our school. When using the drop off lane, please continue to pull forward to allow more space behind you, but do not block or park on the zebra crosswalks. Blocking crosswalks creates danger for pedestrians trying to cross to our school. Please drive slowly through the drop-off area.

 

EVIDENCE-INFORMED MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES

HealthyMindsBC provides evidence-informed prevention and early intervention tools and resources, including online learning opportunities. This site is for parents, caregivers, families, educators and other professionals to help them support the everyday mental health of children and youth. A series of courses that focus on Everyday Anxiety Strategies for Educators (EASE K-7 and 8-12) and Early Years are available. The newest course, Walking Alongside Youth with Anxiety (WAY), is designed to build capacity and support the foster care providers and out-of-care/kinship care providers who are caring for Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth with mild to moderate anxiety.

 

PAC MEETINGS

PAC are amazing resources for our entire school community. A strong PAC bonds our school community with our families. PAC is an excellent way for our families to connect directly with the action at our school as well as develop relationships within the parent community. Our next meeting is on Tuesday, April 16^th at 6:30 p.m.! Please reach out to our PAC at whitesidepac@hotmail.com for more information.

 

FEEDING FUTURES

Recently, the provincial government announced a new Feeding Futures School Program Fund, designed to assist schools in the development and enhancement of school meal programs and other nutritional supports for students. If you would like to request support for your child at school, please reach out to our principal, Brett Cameron (bcameron@sd38.bc.ca). We currently provide breakfast and lunch options for students daily. All requests will be treated with dignity and your privacy will be respected. We want to work with families to ensure that your children have everything they need to be successful at school. Please do not hesitate to reach out if we can help.

 

OUTDOOR EDUCATION FUNDRAISING

To help lower the cost of our annual intermediate outdoor education experiences, Whiteside has partnered with Return-It Depot to fundraise.  Return your cans and bottles to our local Return It depot (Unit 110 - 11020 Horseshoe Way), go to the Express area, type in our number 604-668-6419, affix the label to your bag, drop, and go.

 

CHECK IN AND CHECK OUT

If your child is arriving late to school, please check in at the office through the front entrance.

If your child needs to leave school early, please sign your child out at the office and wait at the front entrance for them.

 

WEST COAST RECESS

During recess and lunchtime breaks, students are expected to be outside at all times this year.  Students are strongly encouraged to dress appropriately for the weather. You may also send a change of clothes to school just in case your child gets wet. Playing outside will ensure our students get some fresh air and exercise to enliven their day.

 

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!

 

Have a great weekend!

 ~Whiteside Elementary