Who Will be in our Classroom?

As we are preparing for the upcoming school year, I wanted to let you know who "WE" actually are.  
I (Christa Elder) will be in the classroom full time.

Mrs. Donna Dyck is scheduled to be in our classroom every morning.  She will be teaching Grade 2 Math, and we will be team teaching Language Arts to Grade One and Two.  Our plan is to separate these two grades as much as possible for Language Arts instruction.

Our classroom is also very fortunate this year to have Miss Jessica Gent teach with us.  She is interning in our classroom through the University of Regina Faculty of Education program.  She will be in our classroom from September until the end of December.  She has a dual role during the time in our classroom, and will be not only a teacher but will be a student as well.  As Miss Gent spends time in our classroom she will take on additional teaching responsibilities to a point where she will be the classroom teacher for the month of November.  I will supervising the entire time, however daily classroom responsibilities and management will be in her hands.  I am excited to see what Miss Gent has to offer to the students, and I am excited to learn from her during her time here!

We are all very excited for the upcoming school year and look forward to getting to know your children.

Star of the Week Schedule

Every week we have a "Star of the Week" within our classroom.  This allows us to learn a little more about each student in the room.  When your child is scheduled to be the "star", they will have small bulletin board display to fill with answers to a variety of questions.  A few days before your child is scheduled to be "star", a bag will come home that contains a list of the questions to be answered, cards to write the answers on, and enough room in the bag to send any other items of interest to school for display.

Some of the questions are things like favourite toys, favourite food, pets, etc.  Please answer most of the questions, and try to send a picture or two for the display.  Your child will present their bulletin board to the class, and then we write a book about your child with the information we have learned.

In the past, some students have brought snacks or a special pet at some point during their week.  Please be aware that this is not necessary and in no way are you obligated to do these things.  We can  however make arrangements for this if it is something you would like to do.

The schedule for "Star of the Week" is as follows:

The Week of:
September 8th - Mrs. Dyck
September 15th - Miss Gent
September 22nd - RJ
September 29th - Ayden
October 6th - Jordan
October 14th - Langston
October 20th - Cody
October 27th - Kyler
November 3rd - Dayton
November 17th - Shelby
November 24th - Sierra
December 1st - Spencer
December 8th - Blake
December 15th - Johnathan
January 12th - Alera
January 19th - Nathan
January 26th - Teagan
February 2nd - Macie-Rae
February 9th - William
February 23rd - Callie
March 2nd - Klay
March 9th - Marlee
March 16th - Tyson
March 23rd - Madex
March 30th - Dora
April 13th - Alex
April 20th - Carson
April 27th - Taylor
May 4th - Houston
May 11th - Kyra
May 25th - Aaliyah
June 1st - Mrs. Langford
June 8th - Mrs. Elder

Show and Tell Schedule

The practice of show and tell in the classroom allows for many learning opportunities ~ speaking, listening, questioning techniques, answering appropriately, and the sharing of interesting items from a student's life.  We will have show and tell for approximately one week each month.  Your child will share on their designated helper day ~ so if your child is a Monday helper, they will have show and tell on Monday of show and tell week.

Please help prepare your child for their time to share ~ talk about where they got the item, why it is special, and any other relevant details.  Students in the class will ask your child about what they bring, so having details and answers prepared is helpful.

Show and Tell will occur during the following weeks:

September 29th - October 3rd
October 27th - October 31st
November 24th - November 28th
December 15th - December 19th
January 19th - January 23rd
February 23rd - February 27th
March 30th - April 2nd
April 27th - May 1st
May 25th - May 29th
June 15th - June 19th

Open House, Sundae Social, and your Favourite Book

On Wednesday, September 5th from 3:30-5:30 we will be hosting an Open House at the school.  This is an opportunity to meet the staff, look around at the changes in the school, and have an ice-cream sundae at the same time!  We invite your entire family to join us as we begin the 2014-2015 school year!

As a project for the Open House, we please ask that you send your child's favourite book to school with them on Tuesday or Wednesday.  Thank you!

Important Days in September

**Please check back often as items will be added and updated as more information becomes available

Tuesday, Sept 2nd
First day of Classes










Wednesday, Sept 3rd
Open House and Sundae Social
3:30-5:30

Thursday, Sept 11th
School Pictures

Friday, Sept 19th

5K Challenge

Monday, Sept 29th

Early dismissal 2:20

Learning Improvement Team

Back to School Reminders

A few things to keep in mind as the school year begins:

1) SRC fees are due on or before September 5th.  This is a $15 fee payable by cheque to Coronach School.  This fee covers $5 for the Christmas dinner and $10 for other events sponsored by our SRC.

2) Students who stay for lunch have approximately 25 minutes to eat before heading outside.  Although students will have access to a microwave, the line can often be quite long and may take a lot of time.  Please consider this when sending food with your child.  Food that has to boil, or cook for lengthy periods of time is not the best option to send with such a short lunch break. If you send an item that needs to be microwaved, please make sure your child has an idea of how long. Many parents have a sticky note within the lunch kit to use as a guide.

3) Teachers supervise during the lunch break but they are required to move between classrooms so there may not be a teacher in the room at all times.  It is important that your child can open/close containers that are being sent in their lunch.  We also strongly suggest that healthy snacks, lunches, and drinks be sent with your child to school.

4) I also ask that you do not send any birthday invitations to school.  The delivery of the invitations and the hurt feelings that may follow tend to disrupt the routine of the day so we kindly request that they be delivered at another time and place.  Thank you.

Family Emails

Some of my communication to parents is done with email.  Unless it is an immediate emergency, I will usually send an email to ask questions, communicate concerns, send reminders, etc.

If you would please send me an email at the address shown below so that I can have your email address on my computer, I would greatly appreciate it.  It can be short and sweet and just needs to tell me who you are ~ Thanks!

elder.christa@prairiesouth.ca

Daily Snack

Each morning we will have a small snack at about 10:40 (depending on schedules).  When sending a snack from home please be aware of  the following things:

1) We encourage you to send healthy and nutritious snacks with your child each day.
2)  Please be aware that we will have about 10 minutes to have snack.  Please send your child something that they can eat within this time frame.
3) Make sure that your child can open/close the container that is sent.
4)  Microwave use will not be allowed during snack time.
5)  Although our school does have a snack program, please do not assume that there is a snack provided each day.  Depending on schedules and funding, snack may not be available.  This program should be seen as a supplement to a snack that is already sent, and not as a guarantee each day.

Thanks!

Daily Helper Days and Jobs

Each day in our classroom we have helpers.  Your child will be assigned a day, and their job will rotate on a weekly basis.  Their jobs are things such as Smartboard, Calendar, Weather, Fishbowl, Photographer, and Line Leader/General Helper.

The Daily Helper list is as follows:

Monday: RJ, Langston, Dayton, Kyler, Tyson
Tuesday: Johnathan, Sierra, Ayden, Marlee, Klay, Carson
Wednesday: Cody, Spencer, Macie-Rae, Madex, Taylor, Houston
Thursday: Nathan, Shelby, Jordan, Callie, Kyra, Aaliyah
Friday: Blake, Alera, Teagan, Alex, William, Dora

Welcome Back!

Welcome back to school everyone!  I hope that you had a relaxing summer and that you were able to enjoy time with family and friends.

Teachers are back at work this week and that means my blog is up and running.  This will once again be my main avenue of classroom communication.  Classroom routines, requests, information, and updates on activities within the room will all be done on this blog.  Please bookmark this address and check back frequently as my goal is to post daily during the school year.  Also please share this address with any family or friends that may be interested in the activities of our classroom.

http://mrseldersroom.blogspot.ca/

Once again, welcome back to the 2014-2015 school year! Thanks for checking in and I look forward to what the year will bring!