June 15, 2018 Allergy Alert We have students and staff members who have severe allergies. These allergies include fish, peanuts, all nuts, and seafood. We also have someone who has severe allergies to scents and scented products. We are asking that students DO NOT bring fish, seafood, shellfish, peanuts, peanut products, all tree nuts or sandwiches made with fish and nut products for their lunches. It is also important to remember that Acreman Elementary is a scent free facility. We need to have the cooperation of all people to ensure everyone’s safety.
Breakfast Program The breakfast program is running every morning. We serve anywhere from 90 - 100 students per day. Even though we get partial funding from the Kids Eat Smart Foundation, donations to the breakfast program are greatly appreciated and you can donate apple juice, cheesestrings, cereal bars, yogurt bars, and yogurt tubes.
Head Lice Check Reminder: Head lice have been a common problem throughout the Canadian school system for many years. We want parents to have this information at their fingertips in case the situation ever arises. We are asking you to take an active role by checking your child’s head regularly. This should be done on a weekly basis at least, or at any time, your child shows signs of an itching scalp.
Elementary Intramurals Elementary intramurals are on Tuesdays and Thursdays lunch time with soccer/soccer skills being the focus.
Kinderstart Survey The Early Learning and Child Development Division of the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development is seeking feedback on the 2017/18 KinderStart program. To help in this process, we are asking parents/caregivers of children involved with KinderStart program this year to share their thoughts and experiences. This will help us ensure KinderStart continues to meet its goal to support each child’s development in all areas of learning as they begin their journey through school. As a parent/caregiver of a child attending KinderStart this year, we would like to hear from you. We ask that you take about 15 minutes of your time and complete this survey. Your responses are completely anonymous. The survey is available until Friday, June 29, 2018. Parent https://www.research.net/r/KS-2018 ACE Awards for May Kindergarten Winners – Letters – Rylan Legge, Numbers – Nash Walker, Friendship – Kylee Harnum, Phonic Awareness –Jayden Crocker, Responsibility – Haley Harnum, and Helpfulness – Logan Keefe Grade 1 G Winners - Friendship – Jack Hillier, Hardworker – Samantha Moore, Helping Hands – Aiden Higdon, Reading – Simon Cumby, and Math – Jayden Hopkins Grade 1 M Winners – Friendship – Amelia Bishop, Hardworker – Devon Pollett, Helping Hands- Caleb Pollett, Reading – Keedan Newhook, and Math – Lucy Brown Grade 2 Winners – Writing Wizard – Jack Parsons, Number Ninja – Liam Groves, Friendly Neighbour – Jayden Centurion, Eager Reader – Nathan Bishop, Wonderful Worker – Haylie Keefe Grade 3 Winners – Super Story Writer – Noah Pollett, Best Helper – Mia Janes, Awesome Attitude – Jamie Saunders and Perseverance – Abigale Traverse Grade 4 winners – Nifty Numbers Award – Gracie Bishop, Respectful Award – Abby St. George, Responsibility Award – Brady Sooley Grade 5 winners – Kindness – Aysia Reid, French (Grade 2) – Jacob Thistle, French (Grade 4) – Rachelle Reid, French (Grade 5) – Jamie Green, French (Grade 6) – Emma Hunt, Responsibility- Jaxson Brace, and Reading – (Grade 5)- Dominic Harnum Grade 6 Winners – Green Award- Brady Williams, Dive into Reading – Destiny Condon, Math – Ryan Green, Respect – Charlotte Legge, PE Award Elementary– Shayla Sharpe Music Awards – Primary – Sydney Hillier and Elementary – Benjamin Taylor Sports Day Our Sports Day is scheduled for Monday, June 25, 2018. It will take place rain or shine. Students should dress for the weather and they should be prepared with sunscreen, fly repellent, hats, and extra water. We will be serving hot dogs, water, and a cold treat to all students on Sports Day. If someone does not want a hot dog, they will have to bring along their own lunch. Volunteers are needed to help with the hot dogs. Since lunchtime is at 12:30 for the Primary grades, volunteers need to show up just before 11:30 a.m.
Schedule for the Last Day of School The last day of school for students is on Thursday, June 28, 2018. School will be starting at its regular time. No one needs to bring along a lunch as students will be dismissed at 12:30 p.m. The closing assembly will begin promptly at 11:00 a.m. in the school gym which will feature this year’s awards. After the assembly is over at 12:00 noon, students will go to their classrooms where they will receive their report cards from their teachers. Buses will leave the school parking lot at 12:40 p.m. to bring students home. Canteen and Milk Orders As items run out in the canteen, we will not be reordering as these items will not remain fresh until school opens again in September. We will inform students as items sell out. Also, the last delivery for milk will be on Tuesday, June 19, 2018. No more milk will be ordered after this date as we don’t want to have lots of milk left when school closes for the summer. Students will be informed when we run out of milk.
Important Dates Below is a list of special events that we have going on here at our school up to and including the last day of school for students. Band Visit from St. Paul’s – Tuesday, June 26 Prizes for Recycling contest – Tuesday, June 26 Sports Day – Monday, June 25 Field Trips – Wednesday, June 27 Closing assembly and last day for students – Thursday, June 28 First day of School for all students (Kindergarten to Grade 6) – Wednesday, September 5
Lost and Found We have a huge box of Lost and Found items in a box under the trophy case (next to the library). We ask that parents go through this box to see if there are any items belonging to their children. There seems to be many expensive items in this box so going through it may solve some missing item cases you have at home. The clothes in the lost and found box that is not claimed will be on display in the library on the last day of school (Thursday, June 28) and whatever is left unclaimed will be donated to charity. Recess and Lunch During recess and lunch there has been students that are coming to school without anything to drink. Though this may seem insignificant, managing almost a hundred students in the lunchroom and on duty with nothing to drink can be very taxing causing a disruption to others and the teacher on duty. Please keep this in mind when packing lunches. As well, many students do not have spoons or forks for their lunches. Please try to make sure that these are supplied, as the school no longer provides these items. The staff only has a small amount of utensils themselves and a short amount of time for their own lunch.
Checking In at the Office and Interrupting Classes We are still having issues with people not checking in at the office when they enter the school. There are still people who just go on to their child’s classrooms and interrupt the instruction going on in the classroom. This cannot happen as it may take the teacher a while to get the students settled and go on with their instruction and the students’ learning. This is not fair to the other students. It is school board policy to have visitors check in at the office. At the office, we can use the intercom to contact your child in the classroom with minimum interruption to learning. Your child can meet you at the office if you need to see them, get something to them, or sign them out for early dismissal in the event of an appointment, etc. We need everyone’s cooperation with this issue.
Recycling Contest Our next recycling contest has begun. It will be over on Friday, June 22, 2018. As always we will have a class winner so all numbers will count. We have experienced much success with the Recycling Program at Acreman Elementary. This is a great fundraiser for the school since it encourages children to recycle and these containers do not end up in the landfills and garbage dumps. Ready-to-drink beverage containers are the only containers that the depots accept for recycling and milk containers are not accepted. We ask that containers are rinsed and caps and straws are removed before they are sent to school. We have started a new recycling contest. For every 25 recyclables, your child’s name is entered into the prize draw. Also, remember that anytime you wish to donate your recyclables, they can be accepted at any Green Depot (Blaketown, Carbonear, and Bay Roberts) and ask them to credit the value of the recyclables to the Acreman Elementary account. These depots are open on Saturdays but closed on Mondays. When you or your child bring in recyclables to the school, make sure that the numbers are reported to the office. You can donate prizes for our contest if you wish. Funds raised from recycling provided our students with many prizes, snacks, field trips, and it also helps to cover our bus rentals ($$$). The class totals as of this week for the recycling are: Kindergarten – 481 Grade 4 - 1431 Grade 1 – 1804 Grade 5 - 1737 Grade 2 – 528 Grade 6 - 394 Grade 3 - 1650
Issues on the Buses We have had several complaints about behavior on the school buses. All buses have assigned seating and we depend on the children sitting where they have been assigned. The majority of the bus issues stems from students not sitting in their assigned seats. We are asking that parents remind their children to sit in their assigned seats, keep their hands and feet to themselves, and report any issues to the bus drivers. Bus issues can also be reported to the office. The expectations of behavior for the bus is the same for in the classroom as it is an extension of their school day. It is important to have everyone’s cooperation while riding the bus as the bus is a privilege and if there are cases of students causing unsafe situations for their fellow students, they can be suspended from the bus for a period of time and then it is up to parents to bring their children to school. It is extremely important to have everyone’s cooperation to ensure that bus rides to and from school remain safe for all our students. One of the bus drivers has mentioned that there are children wearing heavily scented products on the bus first thing in the morning. The confined space on the bus is filled with these heavy scents and this makes it difficult for those who have allergies or asthma. Students should not be wearing such products as they are not allowed in school. Please be aware of what products the students are wearing while travelling on the bus.
Parking Problems We are having problems with people parking next to the school while either picking up students early or waiting for students after school. This area needs to be keep free for the people driving the special transportation to pick up students and escort them safely to the vehicles.
Warming Up Lunches We would like to thank our volunteers for their support and we have to remember that we need to support our volunteers so they do not feel overwhelmed with this duty and are not doing more than what should be required of them. There are over 150 lunches to warm up each and every day and it is important for parents to keep in mind when they are sending in lunches that this program is solely intended for warming up the lunches and NOT PREPARING LUNCHES. There are several types of frozen dinners, entrees, and Lunchables that require the person warming up the meal to take out parts of it and deal with these parts on an individual basis. Our volunteers do not have time to complete these tasks as they have about 90 lunches to warm up before the primary students come down at 12:30 and then they have 60 lunches to warm up before the elementary students come down at 12:50. We cannot have our volunteers overwhelmed as they will stop coming, we will be without enough volunteers, and the lunch heat up program will stop. Please consider this when packing your child’s lunch and we need to have cooperation from all so we do not lose this extra we can provide for our students.
Appropriate Clothing Staff will be taking students outside at lunchtime. Please be sure that your child is dressed appropriately for the weather. Information Concerning a Bussing Policy A directive from our school district asks all their schools to use consistent practices in school busing. A second bus stop for students is not permitted unless it is on a continuous and regular basis. If parents are not going to be home when their child gets off at their regular bus stop, the only options that exists are either the parent arranging for someone else to meet their child at the regular bus stop or arranging for someone or themselves to pick up their child at school. In order to ensure that your child gets a phone message from you, it is not a good idea to call the school while dismissal is happening. We often receive calls from parents while students are boarding buses and sometimes it is not possible for us to get the message from parents and deliver it to students before the buses leave. Also, we can only act on these type of calls from the parents or guardians of our students, not from family friends or acquaintances. Please note that this is a school board policy and cannot be changed at the school level.
Discussing Progress We would like to remind parents that if you need to discuss your child’s progress with teachers, you should make an appointment. Teachers need to be in their classrooms when the school day begins at 8:45 a.m. to start instruction and it is not fair to expect students to wait for classes to begin when parents are discussing concerns with teachers. Please call ahead to make these appointments.
Calling the School There may be times when you need to contact the school for an urgent matter. In these cases, please keep trying the school. While we do have two phone lines, there may be a few minutes throughout the day when outside duties prevent us from reaching the phone in a timely matter.
