February 3, 2025 

Dear Oak Lake Community School Families, 

Welcome to the month of February! As we begin this exciting month, we are thrilled to share many wonderful opportunities for our students, staff, and families. 

This month, we are focusing on literacy skill development as we celebrate I Love to Read Month. It's a fantastic time to encourage reading, engage with new books, and develop a lifelong love of literature. Please check your calendar from our librarian Mrs. Wenstob for more details on events and activities throughout the month. 

In addition to our literacy activities, we have some exciting events coming up: 

• Boys Basketball Home Tournament – On Wednesday, February 5th, our Raptors will be hosting a home tournament. We invite you to come out and cheer on our students as they compete and show their school spirit! 

• Long John Donut Treat Sale – Also on February 5th, Long John donuts will be available for purchase at lunch for $2.00 each.                                 

• Grade 5 Valentine Bake Sale – On Monday, February 10th, the Grade 5 class will be hosting a Valentine Bake Sale as a fundraiser organized by the Student Council. We encourage all students and families to support this sweet cause! 

• Kindergarten Valentine Donut Sale – On Wednesday, February 12th, the Kindergarten class will be holding a special Valentine Donut Sale to support their Wolves Project. More details will follow soon, so stay tuned for more information on how you can support their efforts. The sale will take place from 11:30-12:30, and donuts are $2 each. 

• Basketball Divisionals – On February 19th, we’ll be cheering on our Raptors at the Basketball Divisionals! The Girls’ team will play at Virden Junior High, and the Boys’ team will play at Elkhorn School. Let’s show our support and cheer them on – Go Raptors! Go! 

• Louis Riel Day – Please note that Monday, February 17th will be Louis Riel Day, and there will be no classes on that day. 

• Pink Shirt Day – On Wednesday, February 26th, we will observe Pink Shirt Day, a day to stand up against bullying and promote kindness. We encourage all students to wear pink in support of this important cause. 

• Student Council Hot Dog Lunch – On Thursday, February 27th, the Student Council will be sponsoring a Hot Dog Lunch. Orders are pending, so please watch for more details soon on how to place your order. 

• Grade 5-8 Curling Program – The Grade 5-8 Curling program continues every Friday, with a Bonspiel on Friday, February 28th. We wish our curlers the best of luck and encourage everyone to come out and show their support! 

We encourage all families to stay connected and participate in these fun events as we work together to create a vibrant school community. 

As always, thank you for your continued support. We are looking forward to a fantastic month filled with learning, sportsmanship, and school pride! 

Warm regards,
Brenda Masson
Principal
Oak Lake Community School 

New Year’s News from Oak Lake Community School

Happy New Year from the students and staff of Oak Lake Community School! As we begin our new calendar year OLCS is once again setting the bar high for learning, making friends and having fun!

Attendance matters as early as kindergarten! Studies show many children who miss too many days in kindergarten and first grade can struggle academically in later years. They often have trouble mastering reading by the end of third grade. Children can suffer academically if they miss 10 percent of school days or about 18 days. That can be just one day every two weeks and can happen before one even knows it. That being said, the past couple of months we have found students and staff struggling to be well with a variety of flu and viral infections. Hoping the recent cold weather snap will take care of the illnesses!

With the arrival of REAL MB winter weather comes the need to dress for the climate. We ask parents to ensure that their children are coming to school dressed appropriately in winter outdoor clothing for safety and to best enjoy the frigid temperatures!

To encourage being ready to learn in the mornings, as well as to promote and learn about healthy eating practices, OLCS offers a free nutritious breakfast snack each school day morning. This snack encourages students to sample a variety of nutritious foods and to learn why their bodies need to be fueled with healthy food. We are very appreciative of Mrs. Williment for her creative efforts to prepare our Food For Thought breakfast and lunch program and the generous support of the Manitoba government. 

Our appreciation to our super amazing PAC for their fundraising efforts and support of programming for students at OLCS. Parent Council helps to organize our one-of-a-kind swim program as well as supports busing for student programs and prepares school hot lunches just to mention a few of their initiatives. Mrs. Jodie Gompf continues in her role as PAC president with many helpful moms pitching in as needed. If you would like to be a part of our PAC please contact the school.

The Grades 5-8 annual curling program has kicked off at our local rink. A huge shout out to the Oak Lake curling club as well as John Klassen for their support in helping to ensure access to a great local venue where our youth can develop valuable life skills. Looking for a little exercise on a wintry Friday afternoon? You would be more than welcome to help out our staff and students with the curling program!

Literacy, numeracy and good citizenship remain the top priority for students at OLCS! Classrooms are hubs of learning activities and lessons are focused on developing strong reading, writing and numeracy skills. Students are as well taught manners and how to care for and about others. We are truly blessed to have parents and grandparents popping in on a regular basis to help our young readers practice their skills! Like riding a bicycle, reading takes lots and lots of practise! We appreciate our community sharing in fostering the development of strong reading skills and a love of reading with our little ones. Should you wish to help out our young readers practise please just give us a call at the school and we will definitely welcome your support.

We are one active community school with programming not only during the school day but evenings as well with our SOS (Service, Opportunity and Success) Lighthouse programming once again in full swing! Mrs. Kim Williment remains our co-ordinator but should you have an interest in working with our amazing youth a couple of evenings per week please give a call to OLCS. Currently our programs include Archery, Arts programming and Basketball. We are extremely fortunate to have the RM of Oak Lake Sifton, Virden Detachment of the RCMP, our local conservation districts, Fort La Bosse school division and Tim Gompf as supporters and partners in providing evening programming for our youth Grades 5-12.

We continue to have high expectations for our student’s academics and social learning at OLCS. Our mission statement which we take very seriously is to learn, make friends and have fun! We continue to work together with the outstanding support of our parents and community to “Build Character Today for Communities of Tomorrow!”

Happy New Year from the students and staff of OLCS!

Welcome to a new month, new year, new start!

“The New Year is like a blank book, the pen is in your hands, it is your chance to write a beautiful story for yourself.”

Respectfully submitted

Brenda Masson

Principal Oak Lake Community School