A Week of Kindness

We are wrapping our The Great Kindness Challenge today and would like to share our great numbers! This week we collected 344 food items for Winnipeg Harvest and together completed 4265 kind acts with in our school.  Pretty impressive work from 192 kids!  Our hand prints are ready to send off to be counted towards the world record and we have some lovely surprises for our neighbours at Deer Lodge.  Thanks for a great week, Linwood!

Kind-Hearted Hand Prints



The Kindness Crew gets counting.

More donations.

Kind words for Deer Lodge.

Musical Theatre

Our Grade 4/5 classes were lucky enough to get tickets to the Divisional Musical Theatre production of Peter Pan Jr. at the Westwood Theatre.  Four Linwood students are part of the cast and we were excited to see them perform.  It was a field trip to remember!

Skylar, Rebecca, Charlea and Bryn enjoy their moment in the spotlight!

Milk Ticket Sales Reminder

Parent Council has lined up the milk ticket days with early dismissal days to make it easier to remember.  Please mark these dates on your calendar:

Feb.3rd and 17th

March 3rd and 17th

April 7th and 21st

May 5th and 19th

June 2nd and 16th (note June 16 is regular dismissal time)

Kindness Matters

Next week our school is taking part in The Great Kindness Challenge.  Along with all the other schools in the St. James Collegiate Family of Schools (Stevenson, Brooklands, Assiniboine, George Waters and SJC) we will spend the week showing how kindness matters.  Visit the website at http://www.greatkindnesschallenge.org/School/event.html

Each of our Grade 4/5 classrooms has three students who have been working hard as members of the Kindness Crew to plan the week's events.  At our kick-off assembly today, the Kindness Crew presented to the school about all the ways we will be focusing on kindness at Linwood all week.

To show our school’s commitment to being kind we will be dressing up each day next week.  All the dress up days have the theme of kindness.

Monday- Tip Your Hat to Kindness Day – wear your hat

Tuesday- I’m Dreaming of Kindness Day – wear your PJ’s

Wednesday – Team Linwood Day - wear your school colours or a jersey

Thursday- Tied Together By Kindness Day- wear tie-dye, a neck tie, or tie your hair up all wacky

Friday  - Peace, Love & and Kindness Day – dress like a hippie or from the 80’s

Two initiatives will run all week long. 

First, we challenge each Linwood Student to do his or her best to do many acts of kindness within our own school.  The members of the Giving Tree group worked together to make a checklist with ideas!  There is one list for Grades K-3 and another for Grades 4 & 5.  At the end of the week, we will count how many acts of kindness have happened at Linwood during the challenge.

 The second week long initiative is a food drive for Winnipeg Harvest.  We learned that almost half of the people who receive food from Winnipeg Harvest are children.  Students are invited to bring a "Tin for the Bin".  A list of the most needed items can be found at http://winnipegharvest.org/10-most-wanted-food-items/. 

Olivia and Taryn telling us about Winnipeg Harvest.

We will also have daily activities where we work as a group in our classrooms to do something kind for others.

Logan, Charlea and Danielle explain the daily activities.

On Monday we will write Kindness Messages.  We are showing kindness to others in our community.  Each class will make messages of kindness to take to the residents at Deer Lodge Centre.

On Tuesday we will help set the Guinness World Book Record for the most Kind-Hearted Handprints.  Each student will make one handprint that symbolizes his/her commitment to kindness.  We will mail them off to California to be added to all the other schools handprints and help set the record!

On Wednesday we are doing a Kindness Swap to show Kindness to others within our school.  Each class will create something to give as a gift to another classroom.  Ask your child which class they are swapping with!

Thursday is the day for our Kind Acts Tally. Using our checklists, we will total how many acts of kindness each class performed.

Friday will be our Kindness Celebration: We will announce the number of kind acts that were done at our school. The Kindness Crew will also tally how many food items were collected this week and announce.

We will also be singing a song about kindness every day.  Thanks to Rooms 4 & 6 for working with Mrs. Wurch to record the song! Click below to listen.

                                       

Review and Rate- Grade 5 Students

Today all grade 5 students participated in the province wide Review and Rate anti-tobacco program. The students viewed 12 anti-tobacco ads from around the world and selected the ad that they felt was most effective in helping them choose to be tobacco free.  Please consider following up this learning experience with a conversation at home about your hopes and beliefs for your child.

Family Tech Night Was A Hit!

Our interactive Family Tech Night was a wonderful evening.  To begin, students played games in the gym while parents listed to our guest speaker, Andy McKiel, a Curriculum Coordinator for the SJASD.  Mr. McKiel spoke with parents about some high and low points of children's use of the internet, offered tips to parents on apps to be aware of, and showcased ways that schools are modeling for students responsible, ethical use of the internet.

For the remainder of the evening, families experienced a variety of stations where children and parents got to interact together using technology.  Check out some of the pictures we took!

Big thanks to Ms. Palsson and Ms. Dowd for spearheaded this event and to all of the teachers for coming out to support such valuable conversations with our families.

Today, the youngest student from each family is bringing home a list of apps that families might like to look at with their students.  All of them are free.  Enjoy!

Learning about Instagram with Ms. Palsson

Family Fun at the Photo Booth!

Learning about QR Codes with Ms. Dowd.

Fubuki Daiko Comes to Linwood!

On Tuesday and Wednesday students in grades 4 & 5 participated in a 2- day workshop with Winnipegís Japanese Drumming ensemble, Fubuki Daiko. Working on practice tire drums, students learned several drumming techniques and combined them to create a unique drum piece for their classroom. Our students were taught how to rotate through their practice lines so that all students had several chances to play the large Taiko drums. These beautiful drums were hand made by Hiroshi and Naomi of Fubuki Daiko!
 

 

After two 45-minute sessions over the two days, students in Rooms 15, 16, & 18 performed their drum piece for all Linwood students in the auditorium. Fubuki Daiko closed the sharing session with an awesome performance that left us wanting more!

 

 

A huge "Thank You!" to Fubuki Daiko for introducing us to the fascinating music and culture of Japan and for teaching us Taiko Drumming!

 

 

Play Patrol

Now that the cold weather is upon us, Linwood School's Play Patrol is back in action! On indoor recess days, student leaders from Grade 4 and 5 run stations to provide younger students with opportunities to take a break from their classroom environment and to have some fun.

The stations include:

Bucket Blast where students wear a belt with a bucket on it to catch beanbags that their partner tosses to them.

Sketch Club where students draw and colour.

Lego/Play-Doh where students create and build.

Chicken Relay where student run, jump, hop or scooter down the hallway with a rubber chicken.

Many thanks to our first set of Grade 4 & 5 students for their commitment and leadership: Joshua D, John M, Abbie M, Jordan K, Charlea B, Tiffani O, Connor W, Patrick M, Zia D, Ainslie, Aidan R and Keira W!!!

 

 

 

Middle School Information Evenings

It is the time of year for parents and Grade 5 students to begin to think about middle school registration.

To provide students and their families with information about their school, all middle schools in the St. James-Assiniboia School Division will hold open houses early in February.  Students are encouraged to attend these evenings with their parents.  Administration from the schools will be available to answer your questions.

All Information Evenings begin at 7:00 PM.  Dates are as follows:

Coming Soon to Linwood....

Watch for more information!

January Story Time

The following students enjoyed a story and a snack with Mrs. McDonald in January:

Evelyn, Zeida, Atley, Wyatt N., Aidan R., Keira, Hailey, Ashley S., Rhianna, Tyler, Wyatt G., Thomas, Ashley K., Maddy E., Madison H., Zyron, Walker, Alex U., Gabriel M., Tasjia, Anointing, BrynSara B.-A., Alex P., Connor S., and Charlea.

Kindergarten Fall of 2015

The time of year has come to start preparing for next year's Kindergarten students.  An information evening for parents will be held on Thursday, February 5 at 7:00 in the school library.

Kindergarten registration will begin on Monday, February 23rd from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM and 8:15 AM to 4:15 PM every day there after.  We require the child's original birth certificate and medical card when registering.

If you know of a family in the community with a child who will be five years old by December 31, 2015, please pass this information along!

Family Technology Night

You’re Invited!

All Linwood students and families are invited to attend Linwood’s Tech Night on Tuesday, January 20^th 2015 from 6:00-7:30pm at the school.

For the first portion of the evening (approximately 20 minutes) we will have a guest speaker who will present to parents about technology topics such as social media and using technology at home and school.  Children will be supervised by staff in the gym during this time.

The second portion of the evening will be an interactive experience where students and their families rotate through stations which will let families experience different ways we use technology at school. 

RSVP: apalsson@sjsd.net by Friday, January 16^th
 

 

Santa in January?

Each year, Parent Council asks teachers to submit a "wish list" of items they would like to have at school.  Over the years, Council has purchased many things for the school including drums, snow shoes, and pinnies for field trips.  This year teachers wished for games and other items for children to play with at indoor recess.  Teachers worked with their classes to make a list of things they would enjoy and Council approved the wish!

Today, Santa and his helpers came to deliver the items.  The students were surprised to see Santa in January, but excited none the less!

Thank you, Parent Council for our new play time things!

Parent Council last night.

Getting started on the wrapping.



Waiting to be delivered!

Santa and an elf bring a January gift to Room 10!

Room 6 is delighted!

Cold Weather Reminders

A healthy mind and healthy body go hand-in-hand. Outdoor recess is a time to connect with friends, and recharge through exercise. In this light, all students are expected to go outside for recess. 

Please ensure your child is dressed for the weather everyday as conditions often change throughout the day.  Many families also choose to send extra socks and/or mittens in their child's backpack for extra comfort when outdoor gear ends up wet.

We do not have indoor supervision for students during recess. Indoor recess is only permitted in exceptional circumstances. Generally speaking, a child who is too sick to go outside at recess is too sick to benefit from attending school.

 During severe weather conditions, as outlined by division policy, all students will be supervised indoors. When the wind chill hazard is at or colder than -29 degrees students will not be permitted outdoors.  When the wind chill hazard is between -25 degrees and -28 degrees students may go outdoors for a shorter outdoor recess, up to 10 minutes.  We call this shorter recess a "fresh air break".  Weather conditions are determined using the report from Environment Canada at The Forks.

These same temperature guidelines apply to our school safety patrols being on duty.  When the wind chill hazard is at or colder than -29 degrees the patrols will not be outside. 




 

Closet Cleanout?

The cold weather has arrived and we can anticipate a long stretch of indoor recesses and lunch hours in the weeks to come.  We are welcoming donations of items for use in the classrooms and the lunch room.  Did you give your closets a cleaning this holiday season?  If so, and you have gently used items such as those listed below, we would be happy to collect your donation in the office. We are looking for:

*Lego
*Straws/Connectors
*Toy vehicles
*Board games
*Craft supplies
*Wii or Xbox Kinect games (rated "E" for everyone)

Welcome Back!

The staff at Linwood would like to welcome all students and their families back to school after the Winter Break.  We hope your holiday season was filled with fun, family, and friends.

Parent Council would like to offer the reminder below regarding the Milk Program.  

Any student who is part of the lunch program can purchase a sheet of 10 milk tickets for $7.50 and exchange the tickets for fresh milk at lunch time. You have a choice of white or chocolate, or a combination sheet of white and chocolate.

Milk tickets will be sold on January 6th (this Tuesday) and January 20th.  A volunteer from Parent Council will attend each classroom first thing in the morning to collect money for milk tickets, so please remind your child to hand in their money to the teacher upon arrival at school.  Please send exact change or a cheque made payable to Linwood Parent Council in an envelope labeled with your choice of milk and your child’s name and room number on the front. 

 We have lined up the milk ticket days with early dismissal days to make it easier to remember.  Please mark these dates on your calendar:

Feb.3rd and 17th

March 3rd and 17th

April 7th and 21st

May 5th and 19th

June 2nd and 16th (note June 16 is regular dismissal time)