Newsletters

Dates to Remember:

April 19 - PD Day No School

May 3 - PD Day - No School

May 20 - Holiday - No School

May 31 - Kindergarten Orientation - No School for Kindergarten ONLY

Dear KA Families,

It was so lovely to meet with all of you last month to discuss your child’s progress in Kindergarten. I continue to be amazed at their growth! It is what I love most about teaching Kindergarten - witnessing just how far they come over the year!  I hope you enjoyed your March Break and were able to spend some quality time together! We have been enjoying the milder weather here in KA and definitely have been trying to get outside more. Even the kids have said they are ready for winter to be gone! We had a wonderful nature walk last week where we identified the signs of winter still hanging on but also the signs of spring popping up everywhere! It was really fun. 

We are really amping up our learning in KA now that we have March Break out of the way. The class is very excited about reading and we have been spending time learning our sight words and continuing to practice reading CVC words. Combining our knowledge of both of these things allows us to read sentences and they get so excited! You can expect to receive some stuff soon in their red bags that you can do with them at home! They are using these same skills to continue to write their own sentences! It is so much fun!

In math, we continue to work on numbers between 6-10 and are beginning to understand how numbers come together to create larger numbers! We have also be reviewing 2D shapes and over the next couple of weeks we will starting to focus more on three dimensional shapes

As spring is here, we will be beginning to explore lifecycles of flowers and butterflies as we really get into studying the miracles of Spring! \

Easter Seals Fundraiser As a final push to raise money for Easter Seals, there are two events happening this week. On Wednesday, you can send in $1 to purchase your child a lolly. On Thursday, is dress up like a tacky tourist!

Red Communication Bags A number of students have been coming to school without their red communication bags. Please make sure that you send it back and forth each day with your child. In the next week or two, I will be sending home some activities that you can do with your child and I will need to have their red bag for this! Thank you!

Spring Weather Rain and sunshine are beginning the melting of the snow and as a result our school yard is wet in many areas and sometimes muddy. Please make sure that your child is wearing waterproof boots, snow/splash pants, and clothing appropriate for the season. It is also important to make sure your child has a change of clothes at school (socks, underwear, pants) in the event that they get wet outside

Westwood School Apparel Our Westwood Home and School has partnered with a local company, All Star Cresting, to open a Westwood Primary online apparel store. Parents and staff can order directly from the link below and The Home and School will receive a commission of 10% on all sales, which will go back directly to the school. This is a great opportunity to support Westwood Primary and shop local while showing your school spirit! Two of our Grade 3 classes are planning upcoming spirit days… this would be a great time to flash your new Westwood clothing! Way to go Westies! https://allstarcresting.ca/westwood_apparel/shop/home 

Kindergarten Orientation The kindergarten orientation day for incoming kindergarten students is scheduled for May 31st. There will be no school for current kindergarten students on this day!

Enjoy the rest of April!

Warmly,

Jessica

Dates to Remember:

March 7 - Jersey Day (Easter Seals Fundraiser)

March 7 - PT Conferences (evening)

March 8 - PT Conferences (day - no school)

March 14 - Report Cards go home

March 15 -Silly Hair Day (Easter Seals Fundraiser)

March 21 - PJ Day (Easter Seals Fundraiser)

March 22- Observance of Stat Holiday - No School

March 25-29 - March Break - No School

April 1 - Easter Monday - No School

Apri 2 - First day back after March Break

April 5 - Inside out day (Easter Seals Fundraiser)

Dear KA Families,

We have certainly had a busy February with Valentine's day, a field trip to Potts Sleigh Rides, Diversity Week and celebrating 100 days of school!  In literacy, we continue to focus on sounding out and reading three letter CVC words (Consonant-Vowel-Consonant). The class has been really excited about this. We have also been reading lots of books and doing written responses where we use the sight words we know and we try to sound out the unknown words in a sentence. It has been really fun to see their writing develop! We also celebrated Diversity week. Thank you to Giancarlo’s mom, Julie, for bringing in some yummy homemade Italian treats and teaching us a little about Italy! In math, we continue to focus on recognizing and creating larger numbers, breaking them apart, and number formation. We’ve also been playing lots of fun games. We have pretty much finished up our study of all things winter and it will be a nice change to start thinking about spring and the changes that are happening. 

The 100th day of school was really fun. We had a Super Jam where each of the English kindergarten classes got to go to each classroom and do an activity with that teacher. We also took some fun “aged” photos of the class so be sure to check out the bulletin board when you come into your conference later this week.

Our Valentine’s Day playdough chocolate shop was very popular and the students created some very fun creations that I would have loved to have eaten, if they weren’t made out of playdough! Thank you for helping your children create a special valentine for a friend in class. They brought smiles to their little faces!

Outdoor Weather – Despite the upcoming snow forecast for this week, we are now starting to deal with Spring weather. The playground is starting to become wet and muddy. Please be sure that your child is packing splash/snow pants and extra clothing, as well as a plastic bag to put any wet clothes in. I find feet are always the first thing to get wet so please pack a few extra pairs of socks for your child! I do try my best to stay on top of their extra clothing but if you see your child bring home wet clothes, please try to send in a replacement! Thank you!

Cutlery for Student Lunches - Reminder to families that you need to make sure you are packing cutlery in your child’s lunch daily. The PEI School Lunch Program and Westwood Primary School do not provide cutlery

Milk Orders - The Hot Lunches Program is used to order milk as well as to pay for field trips and donations. Milk is ordered on a monthly basis and must be ordered and paid for by the dates below. Late orders will not be accepted, and any unpaid orders will be deleted. https://westwood.hotlunches.net/ 

April orders – Deadline is Sunday, March 31 

May orders – Deadline is Sunday, April 28

June orders – Deadline is Sunday, June 2 

Keeping our School Healthy - It is important to remember for all parents/guardians, students, staff and visitors to Westwood Primary School that you should not attend school if you are feeling unwell. If you or your child has any of the following symptoms you should NOT attend school:

 • Fever (38°C or higher) / chills

 • New or worsening cough 

• Body / muscle / joint aches/unusual headache

 • Gastrointestinal symptoms (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea)

 • Shortness of breath / difficulty breathing 

• Sore/raw throat/consistent runny nose 

Exemptions include on-going, existing conditions and symptoms that would not be new or unusual for that individual (e.g., chronic allergies, asthma, etc.) It is important that we all work together to keep our school environment healthy for all students, staff and visitors, so that attendance and staffing is not impacted by illness. Thank you for working with us to keep our school healthy and safe for everyone. Westwood Primary School

I look forward to seeing you all later this week for your child’s conference. If you have not yet signed up, please call the office and they can help get your signed up!

Warmly,

Jessica

Dates to Remember:

February 9th - Field Trip to Pott’s Sleigh Ride

February 14th - Valentine’s Day

Feb 16th - Winter Wellness Day

Feb 19th- Islander Day - No School

Feb 28-Pink Shirt Day

Mar 7 - Evening PT Conferences

Mar 8 - PT Conferences - No School

Mar 14 - Report Cards

Dear KA Families,

Happy February! I can’t believe the snow we are getting! I hope you are all safe and cozy. It is hard to believe that we are halfway through the year. Time sure is flying! It is such an honor to work with your children and watch them grow and learn. It is absolutely amazing to see how far they have come in the past 5 months!

In December, we made it through our entire alphabet - learning our letter names and sounds and we continue to work on letter formation. Although we have finished “learning” the letters, we continue to practice these and I will send home a “cheat sheet” that you can use to practice with them as well. In class, we identify the name of the letter - the key word- and the sound the letter makes. For example,  for the letter C, the child would say c-cat-/k/. They know them so be sure to ask them about it. This past month, we started to explore CVC (consonant - vowel - consonant)  words more directly, identifying the sounds and blending them together to sound out the word. This has been an exciting new development. The students have learned to “tap” out the sounds and then blend them together. Ask them to show you for words such as cat, dog, bug, rip, etc. 

In math we have been working on larger numbers, numbers that are more and less,  and counting on. We will also begin to explore 2D shapes a little more. We have a lot of fun games coming up this month and I will send some home with your child to play at home, such as a roll and cover with 2 dice as well as a fun game called “Snowman Bump.” If you have board games at home, I encourage you to play. There are so many skills for your child to learn through games!

With all this snow, we will be looking more closely at snow in the coming weeks and we will be doing some fun snow exploration!

Happy Lunar New Year  Lunar New Year is being celebrated on February 10th, 2024., It is the year of the Dragon. Thank you to Celia for bringing in some treats on Friday! We will continue our learning of this new year celebration this week!

Sleigh Ride Our kindergarten class will be going on a field trip to Pott’s Sleigh Rides on Friday, Feb 9th. The trip will include a sleigh ride and sledding. The permission slips will go home as soon as we return to school. Please sign and return the form ASAP.

Hot Lunch Utensils I know I continue to mention this but please remember to send in utensils for your child if they need one for their lunch. The school does not supply these utensils!

Red Bags Please be sure to send your child’s red communication bag with them each day. I know they frequently go home without anything in them but I often do have stuff to add to them.

Winter Clothing With the very cold weather arriving, please be sure to send in the appropriate clothing: Warm jacket, snow pants (splash pants are not quite warm enough this time of year), warm waterproof mitts (at least one extra pair), hat and snow boots. A neck warmer is also a good idea. Please also make sure your child has extra clothes at school, including a couple of pairs of socks in case their feet get wet outside. Thank you so much for this!

Valentine’s Day For Valentine’s Day this year, each child in Kindergarten is invited to make ONE creative valentine for a special friend in their class (to be assigned). This is in lieu of sending in a valentine for EACH child in the class. More information will be sent home when we return to school. If you need any art supplies for your child to make a valentine, please do not hesitate to reach out. 

Parent-Teacher Conferences Parents/Guardians will be able to log on and book parent-teacher conferences on February 23rd . The school will send out an email reminder to parents later in the month. Parents are able to book parent-teacher conference times for students attending both Westwood Primary and Eliot River Elementary Schools at the same time. We recommend that you allow at least for 15 minutes between multiple interviews when booking. A link to the Parent-Teacher Conferences Scheduler is on our school web page. https://eliotriver.schoolappointments.com/admin/

Milk Orders/Hot Lunches Program Milk and pizza can be purchased for students using the Hot Lunches ordering system. The website is westwood.hotlunches.net. Parents can purchase white Milk (50 cents), chocolate Milk (80 cents) daily. We are currently offering the option on Tuesdays to purchase pizza from Little Caesar’s cheese or pepperoni pizza ($3.00). On Wednesdays, students can purchase 4 Crazy bread from Little Casear’s for $3. Orders will be placed for a month at a time and must be placed and paid for online at 11:59 pm by the dates below. We are unable to accept any late orders. Unpaid orders will be deleted.

 March orders – Deadline is Sunday, March 3

 April orders – Deadline is Sunday, March 31

May orders – Deadline is Sunday, April 28 

June orders – Deadline is Sunday, June 2

I hope you can all dig yourself out of this snow!

Warmly,

Jessica 

Dates to Remember:

Jan 8 - First Day of Classes

Jan 26 - Literacy Day - Dress up as your favourite literary character

Feb 16 - Winter Wellness Day

Feb 19th - Statutory Holiday - No School

Dear KA Families,

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and were able to spend some time with your loved ones and maybe even got a bit of time to relax!  I am so excited for 2024 in our KA classroom and it was so nice to see all the kids again today!

We will be starting off the new year by exploring slightly larger numbers in math, learning how to count on from a given number,  as well as starting to explore the different ways to represent numbers. For example, they will take a tower of 5 cubes and break it into two different parts to see that 4 + 1= 5 or 2 + 3 = 5. We will also begin to focus more on proper number formation! I have some math games that we have been using in class that I will send home soon so keep an eye out for them in their red bags!

 In literacy, we have finished our alphabet and we will be starting to look at sounding out CVC words by tapping out each of the sounds. This is really the precursor to beginning to read and it is a really exciting step for the kindergarteners! We will also be continuing to think about our pictures when we draw them. What colours make sense? What details can I add to tell my story? What are the beginning sounds of the words that I would use to tell this story? How can I try to form a sentence using the words and/or sounds that I know?  It is so much fun to watch them grow! 

Red Communication Bag Just a reminder to send in your child’s red communication bag with them so that I can send items home with them throughout the week.

Water Bottles We have very active days in Kindergarten and the students do get quite thirsty. Please be sure that you are sending a water bottle each day with your child.

Winter Clothing While we have had an abnormally mild winter so far, the weather on the playground can still be quite wet and chilly. Please be sure to be sending your child with a warm coat, snow pants, winter boots, warm hat and mitts/gloves (2 pairs). Thirty minutes out on the playground when you are not properly dressed can be quite cold. Additionally, make sure that your child has at least one full extra set of clothing at school in case they get wet. Thank you!

Milk Orders/ Hot Lunch Online Program

Milk and pizza can be purchased for students using the Hot Lunches ordering system. The website is westwood.hotlunches.net. Parents can purchase white Milk (50 cents), chocolate Milk (80 cents) daily. We are currently offering the option on Tuesdays to purchase pizza from Little Caesar’s cheese or pepperoni pizza ($3.00). On Wednesdays, students can purchase 4 Crazy bread from Little Casear’s for $3. Orders will be placed for a month at a time and must be placed and paid for online at 11:59 pm by the dates below. We are unable to accept any late orders. Unpaid orders will be deleted.

 January orders – Deadline was Sunday, January 7th 

February orders – Deadline is Sunday, January 28th 

March orders – Deadline is Sunday, March 3rd

 April orders – Deadline is Sunday, March 31st 

May orders – Deadline is Sunday, April 28th 

June orders – Deadline is Sunday, May 28th

Family Literacy Day – Dress as Your Favourite Character 

To celebrate Family Literacy Day at Westwood Primary, we will be having a "Dress-as-your-favourite-book character" Day on Friday, January 26 th, 2024 (in lieu of Jan 27th – Saturday). To participate, simply come dressed as the character from one of your favorite books and if possible, bring along a copy of the book to share with your friends. We are looking forward to meeting Westwood's most-loved characters!

Warmly,

Jessica

Dates to Remember:

Dec 7 - Report cards go home

 Dec 8 - Show and Share 

Dec 15  -Show and Share

Dec 15 - KA Holiday Concert -  1pm

Dec 22- Last Day of Classes 2023

Jan 8 - First Day of Classes 2024

Dear KA Families,

Happy December! It was so lovely to meet all of you during our parent teacher conferences. Thank you for coming in to chat with me to find out how your child is starting out in Kindergarten.

As always, we have been busy in KA. We are getting to the end of our alphabet with only 4 more letters to learn about! The class is very excited about this! Over the next couple of weeks we will learn about qu, x, y and z. This past week we had fun learning about Volcanoes as we explored the letter V. The squeals of delight were fabulous as we watched our volcano explode! In writing, we continue to work on adding details to our drawings and to use colors to make sense. In the coming weeks, I will really be encouraging them to start attempting to write a sentence. In math, we continue to learn about numbers and different ways to represent them. We have also been exploring shapes. Nature time continues to be one of our favorite activities. We had fun looking at the frost on the ground and identifying the signs of winter. We also tested our building skills by building little homes for gnomes! It was delightful! While we have started to practice for our holiday concert, we will be putting a stronger emphasis on this in the next couple of weeks. 

Red Communication Bags 

Please try to help your child remember to bring in their red communication bag. I know that there are some days they return to you empty, but it is really helpful to have them to send home any of their work or if I need to send home a note.

Holiday Concert

Please join us Friday, December 15th for our holiday concert. We will be joining KC, KD and KF for an afternoon of singing and music. Please arrive by 12:45pm so you have enough time to find a seat for the 1pm start. Concert should be about 40ish minutes long. The storm date in December 19th. If you can’t make it and want to send a grandparent, other family member or a friend, please do so! The kids always like to look for a familiar face in the crowd on that day.  We look forward to seeing you there!

Change of Clothes

Please make sure your child has a change of clothes at school. There are so many things that can happen throughout the school day that require a change of clothes, from spills and  bathroom accidents to muddy knees and wet feet at recess. Please make sure the clothing is labeled with your child’s name and placed in a large ziplock bag with their name on it. I keep the change of clothes in their bottom cubby and items can easily fall out and miraculously, no one knows who it belongs to :) I would recommend extra sets of mitts and socks!

Colder Weather

While we have been lucky with such mild weather this fall, it is getting colder and the playground can be a chilly place. Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately for the colder weather with jackets, splash/snow pants, hats and mittens. 

Water Bottles + Utensils

There have been more and more children coming to school without a water bottle or a utensil for eating their lunch. This is just a gentle reminder to please make sure that you are sending in a water bottle with your child and a utensil if they need it for their lunch.

Breakfast Program Volunteer

We are looking for an additional volunteer for the Breakfast Program on Tuesdays and Fridays. If you are available from 7:45 am – 8:45 am and you are interested in volunteering, please contact Lynette MacKinnon at lvmackinnon@edu.pe.ca. You will need to submit a Criminal Record Check before volunteering. 

Fun activities
We will be doing some fun activities in the week or two before Christmas. I will send out a schedule soon so that you are aware of all the fun we will be having and if there is anything you might need to prepare for! 

Warmly,

Jessica

Dates to Remember:

Nov 13 Remembrance Day Observed - No classes

Nov 16-17 - PEITF Conventions - No classes

Nov 23 - Parent-Teacher Conferences (evening)

Nov 24 - Parent-Teacher Conferences (all day) - No classes

Dear KA Families,

Well it definitely was a shock to the system yesterday morning when we woke up to snow! The students were so excited and we just HAD to go outside to play in it immediately. I forgot my phone at home but I wish I could have captured a video of their shrieks of delight when I opened up the door for them to go outside! It was so magical! 

We certainly have been busy in KA. We continue to work on our recognition and representation of numbers up to 6. The students played a fall themed roll and cover game that they will be taking home with them. The idea is that they roll the dice and then cover the number on their game with an item (buttons, coins, whatever you have at home!) A fun spin on the game is to make it a two person game where each person rolls and then they cover the number. Whoever covers the most leafs, wins the game. 

In literacy, we have been working on rhyming words and have been singing songs and reading poems to help with our understanding of these words. The students have also been working hard on representing a story through drawing and being able to tell the story related to their picture. I have been encouraging them to try to add the first sound to label some of the parts of their picture. For example, if they drew an apple tree they would write an “a.”  Each week we focus on 2-3 letters and we are over half way through the alphabet!

Fall leaves and pumpkins have been big themes this past month. We have read and acted out the poem “Five Little Pumpkins,”  learned about the lifecycle of a pumpkin, and created our own unique pumpkins for our own pumpkin patch! Walking through the woods during nature time has been an extra special treat this month as we have witnessed the leaves changing color. 

Utensils and Water Bottles Please make sure that you send your child with proper utensils and water bottles. If you order your child food, please remember to send in a fork or spoon as they are not provided by the school. A number of students have also been coming to school without their water bottles. It is important that they stay hydrated throughout the day!

Clothing We have been so lucky to have had such warm and beautiful weather this fall. However, today taught us that the cold and snowy weather is coming! Please make sure that your child has the proper clothing for playing outside! Having an extra pair of mittens/gloves is a great idea because we often go outside more than once a day and they can get pretty soggy. Also, please make sure that your child has extra clothes as many students are still missing an extra set of clothes at school,

Class Dojo As this is my first year doing class Dojo, I just wanted to double check that people are getting my messages. If for some reason you are not receiving my messages, please do let me know!

Building Independence One of our big goals in Kindergarten is to build independence. Please work with your child to learn to open and close their food containers, open packaged snacks and to put their lunch containers back in the lunch bag. Additionally, with the onset of the colder weather, we have many more items to put on, take off and pack away. Help your child to independently learn how to do up their zipper, put their winter clothes on and to pack their bags with all of their belongings. We know that all of this is a learning process and it will take time but support from home is always appreciated!

Names  We continue to work on learning and writing our names in class. It is a starting point to really recognizing and writing letters.  Here are a few fun activities you can do at home to assist your child:

• When coloring or drawing, always have your child write their name on their paper. Remind them to start at the top when writing their letters and to always start their name on the left side.

• Use alphabet magnets and have them write their name in order. Then mix them up and have them tell you the letters. Have them practice with both uppercase and lowercase letters so that they can learn to practice both.

• Pick a letter from their name and have them write as many things as they can think of that start with that letter.

• Make the letters of their name with blocks, lego, playdough, etc. 

Parent Teacher Conferences Westwood Primary use On-Line Bookings for Parent-Teacher Conferences for November 23rd and 24th. A link is located on our school web page where you can register and book parent-teacher conference times. https://eliotriver.schoolappointments.com/admin/ 

The Parent Teacher Conference Schedule will be open for Parents to book appointments on Nov 12th at 9am and closes on the 17th at 10 pm

Warmly,

Jessica 

Important Dates

September 29 - PD Day - No School

October 2 - Truth and Reconciliation Day - No School

October 9 - Thanksgiving Day - No School

October 18 + 19 - School Photo Days

October 27 - Professional Development Day - No School

Hi KA Families and Guardians,

Kindergarten has been working so hard over the past month on so many things. They are really starting to understand the routines of school and are starting to follow many of them independently. We will continue to work on building these skills as time goes on. 

One of the things that we have been working on a lot is our names. Names are so important. They are usually one of the first words that student’s recognize, and write independently. Through their name they are learning some letters of the alphabet and matching other words that begin with the same sound (Jelly - Jessica). In the classroom, we have been working on recognizing the letters in our name (in order, mixed up, uppercase and lowercase), printing our name (always in the right order and in a straight line), and beginning to notice what’s the same and different about our friends’ names in our class. 

We have also started studying letters using the FUNDATIONS program. This program teaches the students to recognize both uppercase and lowercase letters and use a picture to help associate the letter sound. For example, Bb - bat - /b/. You may have heard your children coming home from school reciting these as we review them everyday. So far we have looked at:

Tt - top - /t/ Mm - man - /m/ Ii - itch - /i/

Bb - bat - /b/ Nn- nut - /n/ Uu - up - /u/

Ff - fun - /f/

Our themes for the month are Fall/Autumn, Thanksgiving and Halloween.  We are going to have so much fun exploring so many of the wonderful things that make Fall such a great season!

Lunch + Snack Please make sure you are packing your child a healthy and substantial lunch. Our days in Kindergarten are long and having a healthy, main meal in their lunch is really important to help them get through their days. Thank you to everyone for remembering to send in utensils for your child to use!

Allergies  Due to severe, life-threatening allergies, Westwood is a peanut/nut/tree nut/kiwi (including kiwi juice – please check juice boxes carefully) free school. We ask you to take the time to read labels carefully, so that we do not have foods containing any of these products in student lunches.

Show and Share Fridays  Starting this Friday, we will be having Show and Share Fridays. Each child can bring something that they would like to share with the class. It should be small enough that it can be safely zipped away in their backpacks. Each week, five children will be chosen to speak about their item in front of the class. After these five people have shared, there will be time for the students to mingle with each other and show their items with the others in the class.  Show and Share Fridays will only happen when we are at school on a Friday. 

Outdoor Play In Kindergarten,  we will be going outside regularly so please make sure that your child is dressed appropriately for the weather.  As a school this year, we are going to be heading outdoors during our recess times in all kinds of weather. It is important that children are dressed for the weather when they come to school. For example: • Rainy Days - children should be wearing boots, splash pants and a water resistant coat (such as a raincoat). The only time we will be remaining indoors for recess, is if there is a storm or severe cold temperatures. We are going outside!

Home and School  Westwood Home & School meeting is scheduled for October 12 @ 6pm. All are welcome to attend.  

Warmly,

Jessica 

Important Dates

September 29 - PD Day - No School

October 2 - Truth and Reconciliation Day - No School

October 18 + 19 - School Photo Days

Hi KA families and guardians,

Welcome to our KA class newsletter. I will post a newsletter towards the beginning of each month to let you know what we’ve been doing, what we have coming up, as well as important dates and reminders. I will be sure to send out an email to let you know that a new post has been added.  

It was so lovely to meet a few of you last Thursday evening at the Meet the Staff evening. It is so nice to put faces to the mommies, mamas, daddies, nanas and papas that I hear about everyday in our classroom. I look forward to working with you all this year. 

In this newsletter, I wanted to highlight a few of the things that I shared at our meet the staff evening for those who were unable to attend:

Clothing - If you have not already, please send in a FULL change of clothes for your child to have incase of any accidents that may happen. I always suggest extra socks as sometimes little feet get wet during recess and the kids are uncomfortable in wet socks all day! Please put the clothing in a labeled ziploc bag and label all clothing - I already have 3 items in the classroom lost and found!

Outdoor learning -  Please check the weather and send your child with appropriate clothing. We will be going outside most days and it will be a more comfortable experience for your child if they have the correct clothing. 

Red communication bag - The red communication bag should be sent back and forth to school each day. Please double check that there is nothing in your child’s bag each day. You can also put notes for me in the bag and it is always a good idea to remind your child that it is there. There is a $2 fee for this bag. Please send this money in if you have not yet. 

Class Dojo - As I mentioned, I will be trying to use the Class Dojo app this year. I will be sending information out shortly once I have everyone’s email addresses. This will be for communication and last minute reminders. Please do remember to also contact the office for pick-up or bus information. 

Fostering Independence - We have been working a lot on our classroom routines over the past week and learning independence in various different parts of our day. Please support your child in learning buttoning, zipping, dressing, undressing, opening containers and wrappers, and packing their lunch bags and backpacks at home.

School Time - Our school day begins at 8:30am. Any arrival after that is marked as late. Students can be dropped off as early as 8:05am but please no earlier as there are no staff on duty. The day ends at 2:30pm.

Early Closure - Thank you for completing all the Early Closure forms. Please keep in mind that we are not able to hold your child here at school so pick up is not an option. We need to have a location to send your child incase of an emergency where we need to all leave the building. Thank you for your understanding. 

Bus - If your child needs to go on a different bus due to childcare needs, please send a note or call the office with your child’s full name, class (KA), address where they are going and the bus number. If you need to change your child’s afternoon plan, please call the office by 1pm. Parents are not allowed to enter the bus loop at the end of the day. Any child getting picked up at the end of the day will accompany the teacher through the bus loop and then be dropped off to their parent afterwards. 

Medications - If your child requires medication, please make sure it is premeasured. You can drop the medication off at the office as there is a Medical Administration form that needs to be completed before the office staff can administer the medication to your child.

Lunch Programs - You can order the provincial lunch program through the following website: www.peischoolfood.ca The program costs anywhere between $0 to $5.75. Additionally, you can order milk and pizza through the school lunch hot lunch program. These are ordered on a monthly basis. https://westwood.edu.pe.ca/about/hot-lunches  Please keep in mind that forks, spoons and straws are not provided by the school and you need to send one in (but on that note, if you happen to have extra plastic forks and spoons at home that are not being used, I would love to make use of them in our classroom as there are always some kids that forget!)

School Communication - Please make sure you have a valid email address on file at the school so that you can receive messages from school messenger, including the monthly school newsletter. You can also “like” the school page on Facebook to receive notifications for things such as school cancellations, late buses, etc. 

I know for many of you, this year is your own introduction to schooling as a parent. Please feel free to reach out any time your have a question. I am more than happy to help!

Warmly,

Jessica