MAY 2018 NGES NEWSLETTER Issue # May 2018 NGES Newsletter Calendar Of Events Issue Date May 2018 May 21 NO School – May 7 Student’s Victoria Day Spring Photos by Harvey Studios May 23 Literacy Night 6-7pm May 9 Embedded Day Dismissal @ 1:25pm. May 24 2018/19 Primary Orientation May 10 Home & (Students Only) School Meeting 6:30pm. May 28 Bus Evacuation Drill May 17 2018/19 Primary Orientation May 30 Embedded Info Night 6pm. Day Dismissal @ 1:25pm. MAY 2018 NGES NEWSLETTER | 2 If your child is eligible to begin grade primary or pre-primary in September 2018 and you haven’t registered, please drop by the school to complete the registration form and bring 2018/19 Pre- your child’s health card and birth certificate with you. Children turning 4 years of age on or before December 31, Primary and 2018 are eligible to begin the pre-primary program. Primary Children turning 5 years of age on or before December 31, Registration 2018 are eligible to begin grade primary. Student Photos Harvey Studios will be at NGES on Monday, May 7, 2018 to take student photos. If you wish to have your children who are in school photographed together please send a note to their classroom teachers advising them prior to May 7th. Thank you. T-Shirt Orders Thank you to everyone who ordered the anti-bullying t-shirts. We will send them home when we receive them. We encourage everyone to wear the anti-bullying t-shirt or pink on Mondays. MAY 2018 NGES NEWSLETTER | 3 Counselling Connections Is it rude, mean or bullying? Do you know the difference? Bullying is bad. There is no other way to put it, but sometimes the term bullying gets used when another word might be more appropriate. Here is a quick refresher for us all. Rude = Inadvertently saying or doing something that hurts someone else. At school sometimes kids are rude and it might look like jumping ahead in line, bragging about achieving the highest grade or even splashing mud outside on the playground. On their own, any of these behaviors could appear as elements of bullying, but when thought about in a single context, these moments of rudeness are usually spontaneous, unplanned, based on thoughtlessness, show poor manners, but are not meant to actually hurt someone. Mean = Purposefully saying or doing something to hurt someone once (or maybe twice). The main distinction between “rude” and “mean” behavior is the intention; while rudeness is often unintentional, mean behavior very much aims to hurt someone. Kids are mean to each other when they criticize clothing, appearance, intelligence, coolness or just about anything else they can attack. Meanness also sounds like words spoken in anger that is often regretted. The following are snip-its that could be heard in the hallways: “You are such a loser. No one likes you.” And, “You are so fat/ugly/stupid.” As well as, “I hate you!” Make no mistake; mean behaviors can cut deeply and kids should be made accountable for being mean. Yet, meanness is different from bullying in important ways. Bullying = Intentionally aggressive behavior, repeated over time, that involves an imbalance of power. Experts agree that bullying has three key elements: an intent to harm, a power imbalance and repeated acts or threats of aggressive behavior. Kids who bully say or do something intentionally hurtful to others and they KEEP doing it, with NO sense of regret or remorse — even when targets of bullying express their hurt or tell the aggressors to stop. Bullying may be physical, verbal, relational or carried out via technology. • Physical aggression includes hitting, punching, kicking, spitting, tripping, hair pulling, slamming a child into a locker and a range of other behaviors that involve physical aggression. • Verbal aggression is what our parents used to advise us to “just ignore.” We now know that words and threats can, indeed, hurt and can even cause lasting harm. • Relational aggression is a form of bullying in which kids use their friendship—or the threat of taking their friendship away—to hurt someone. Social exclusion, shunning, hazing, and rumor spreading are all forms of this type of bullying. • Cyberbullying is a specific form of bullying that involves technology. The likelihood of sharing is extremely high when using technology making cyberbullying intensely harmful because of the quick and repeated exposure. So, why is it so important to make the distinction between rude, mean and bullying? My worry is that if we, as a community, use the term bullying incorrectly, we become de-sensitized and perhaps not take real action when our children need us the most. It is important to distinguish between rude, mean and bullying so that teachers, school administrators, police, youth workers, parents and kids all know what to pay attention to and when to intervene. MAY 2018 NGES NEWSLETTER | 4 Bus Evacuation Drill Students will be participating in a Bus Evacuation Drill on Monday, May 28, 2018 at regular dismissal time. Students may arrive home a few minutes later that day. Literacy Night Save the Date!! On May 23rd from 6:00-7:00 we will be partnering with our Home and School Association to put on a literacy night and kick off our summer slide reading plan. The night will involve draws for prizes, snacks, treats and activities for students. Parents will be invited to join together in a separate space while children are entertained with fun activities. Weather Conditions The weather is very unpredictable; therefore, ensure students arrive at school prepared to go outside at recess and lunch. Please send them with warm footwear, a hat, mittens, a coat, splash pants, rain boots, etc. Please send your children with a change of clothes as well. If they have them with them we don’t need to bother you to drop by the school with a change of clothes. Thank you. Collaborative Learning Time Teachers worked with Robin Harris, who was a key developer in the provincial math curriculum, on understanding the types of questions we need to present to our students to develop deep thinking and understanding of math. Math, along with literacy, are essential to support students in future success. Teachers will continue to work on levels of questions we ask of students and how these concepts build from Primary to Grade 6. MAY 2018 NGES NEWSLETTER | 5 School Fundraiser The orders from Dielman Fundraising Sales are expected to arrive at the school later in May. Once the products are received they will be sent home with students. If the order is too large to be transported on the bus we will call the child’s parent to pick the order up at the school. Thank you again for your ongoing support. Our school staff was treated to a staff appreciation lunch this month, which was sponsored by the Home and School Association. The incredible food, beautiful flowers, tea, coffee and cards of appreciation were very much enjoyed by all. Thank you to all parents who organized and supported such a generous event. It made our month! Student Morning Arrival The school day at NGES does not begin until 8:28am. The doors will not be open for student arrival until that time. This is also the time that school buses begin to arrive at our school to deliver students. If students walk to school please do not have them arrive until 8:28am. If they are dropped off by parents/guardians at school prior to that time they will have to wait outside with parents until school begins. Teacher supervision does not begin until 8:28am. Classes begin at 8:48am. Thank you for your cooperation as we work together to ensure student safety. MAY 2018 NGES NEWSLETTER | 6 Gates Closed For Student Safety A reminder that the gates to our school property remain closed when students are engaged in outside activity at recess and lunch. These gates remain closed for the duration of the time that students are outside at recess and lunch for their safety. Gates are closed during recess (10:55am-11:15am) and lunch (12:55pm-1:25pm). Vehicles may not enter or leave the school property during that time. If you need to pick up a child at those times please park outside of the school yard so that you are free to leave. May/June Hot Lunch Special From The Kitchen Monday – Goulash & Garlic Bread $3.50 Tuesday – English Muffin Pizza (Cheese OR Veggie) $3.50 Wednesday – Chicken Burger $3.50 Thursday – BLT OR Club Wrap $3.50 Friday – Hamburger $3.50 Cheeseburger $3.75 Healthy Head Checks Please continue to check your children’s hair on a daily basis and contact Mrs. Gladwin if you need support with how to deal with lice. We have requested that students bring a bag to put outside clothing in in the hallway in order to keep their things separated from others. We still have many students who need a bag for this purpose in school. MAY 2018 NGES NEWSLETTER | 7 Home & School Meeting Next meeting will be May 10th at 6:30pm. Pre-Primary and Primary Information/ Orientation Session For Parents On May 17th beginning at 6pm parents of students who will be starting Pre-Primary and Primary in September 2018 are being asked to attend an evening of important information that will be presented by various team members that work with our students at school. These will include our psychologist, speech language pathologist, primary teachers, pre-primary teachers and our transportation manager. The sessions will include issues that will support your children in getting off on a positive start to their school career.