Seven Teachings

In December, the Seven Teaching focus was love, which is represented by the eagle, who flies closest to the sun.  To know love is to know peace. Love is based on affection, respect and kindness and is to be given freely from the goodness of your heart.  Love refers not only to the traditional sense of love within families, but on the greater sense of being kind and thoughtful of others.

Enjoy these beautiful pictures that Mrs. Stevenson’s class drew about love.

 

 

 

 

Giving Tree Update

Thank you Linwood families for your generous support of the Giving Tree Club. 

Our Grade 2 members sorted and counted the warm outerwear collected. Our school community donated 84 hats, 40 pairs of mittens and 19 scarves for children in need!!

Last week's Coin Drive with our Parent Council partners raised over $420 for Sam’s Christmas.  Our Grade 3-5 students used the iPads to plan Christmas purchases for 17 children.  Mrs. Turner and Ms. Jensen will purchase these selected presents and wrap them in time for the hampers to be delivered this weekend.

We greatly appreciate the generosity of our Linwood families and our Giving Tree members. 

 

Happy holidays!

Team Handball

The grade 4 and 5 team handball teams had a very successful season. They participated in after school paractices and then used the skills they had learned to play interschool games against three other schools:  Brooklands, Assiniboine and Stevenson. They also participated in a friendship tournament where they displayed excellent sportsmanship and team work. Thank you to Mrs. Rogala and Mr. Harris for coaching the teams.

Grade 5 Team

Grade 4 Team

 

December Story Time

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

Chantel, Jesse, William, Addison, Aubrey, Loralai, Eirrah, Charlotte, Frances, Madison, Danielle, Rebecca, Skylar, Aridine, Joshua D., Josh R., Zach, John M., Maddox, Ajay, Sara H., Kieran B., Kryztofer, Kallan, Ava S., Kaleb Z., Griffin W., Tristan, and Brody.

Lost and Found

During Triad Conferences this week our "Lost & Found" items will be on display in the front hallway.  Please be sure to check for any missing items. Items that remain at the end of each month will be donated to a local charity.

Drills & Emergency Practices

During the course of a school year, we are mandated to practice 10 fire drills, two lockdown drills and one tornado drill to prepare our students in the event there is an emergency.  Staff will have reviewed procedures with children before emergency measures practices take place.  We will only notify home in the event of a real crisis.  We will hold our first practice lockdown drill in the coming weeks.  Please do not hesitate to call the school if you need any clarification.

Exploring the Seven Teachings

This year, the staff and students of Linwood School will be exploring the Seven Sacred Teachings. The Aboriginal way of life is built around the seven natural laws, or sacred teachings. Each teaching honours one of the basic virtues to a full and healthy life.  An animal represents each teaching to emphasize the connection between people and the natural world.

At Linwood School, we will focus on one teaching each month. Each classroom will explore the teaching in a manner that is age-appropriate and may include writing, talking circles, drama, technology or art.

The seven teachings to be explored are:

November: Respect - The Buffalo

December: Love – Eagle

January: Courage – Bear

February: Honesty – Sabe (Sasquatch)

March: Wisdom – Beaver

April: Humility – Wolf

May: Truth – Turtle

In November, the children have learned how to show respect to themselves, others and the earth.  Students explored the teaching through writing, talking circles, drama, technology or art. Many classrooms explored the “Buffalo Box” to learn how the First Nations people showed respect to the bison by using every part and wasting nothing at all.
  

 

 

 

Outdoor Play & Cold Weather Policy

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. 

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

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 gear ends up wet.

Important December Events- Conferences & Concert

Conferences
On Thursday, December 4^th and Friday, December 5^th, we will be having our Tri-conferences. The purpose of these conferences, led by the student, is to share what is happening in the classroom and to give students the opportunity to demonstrate, reflect on, and celebrate their own individual growth.

Conferences will run Thursday evening from 4:30pm – 7:00 pm and Friday morning from 9:30-11:15. There are no classes for students Friday.  The sign-up form for conferences will come home with your child's report card on November 26th. 

As the focus is on celebrating learning, and due to the fact that there will be multiple families together in the classroom, this is not the ideal time to discuss any concerns you may have about your child. If you would like to arrange to speak privately with your child’s teacher please contact her/him directly.

Concert

Our annual Winter Concert will be held on Wednesday, December 10th at St. James Collegiate at 6:30 PM.  Planning for this event is well underway!  A note containing all the pertinent details will come home with all students closer to the event. 

A Note from the Giving Tree Club

Hi parents and guardians,

We hope you can give neck warmers, hats and mittens for the Giving Tree Club. Please donate one or two things for kids who need them. We need your help. There are three giant bins by the office to put your donations in. Please give by Nov. 24th.

From,
Avirey (on behalf of Linwood School's Giving Tree Club)

Koats for Kids

 

 

Koats for Kids is an organization that helps families in need by providing winter outerwear. Coats, ski pants, hats and mittens are distributed through schools. We also have some winter boots at the school as well.

If your child or children are in need of winter clothing, please contact Mrs. Turner at kturner@sjsd.net or at 889-9356 and she will arrange to access needed winter wear for you.

If you have winter wear that you wish to donate, gently used outwear can be dropped off at any Fire Paramedic Station or at Perth's.

Keep warm!

November Story Time

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

MacKenzie B., Zti, Seth H., Jordyn M., Nikolai, Drayson, Ace, Dorian, Sophia, Trinity, Adalie, Addi W., Alex C., Sunny, Aidan H., Sasha, Caleb, Jessica, Hannah, Liam N., Alan, Kael, Nick, Seth A., Nolan D., Jorja, Olivia D., Abbie, Max R., and Sam.

Parent Information Evening

National Speaker and Author

Diane Gossen to present…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Restitution Approaches to Help Your Child be Responsible

 

Event: Parent Information Night

Place:  Crestview School

Time:  5:30 – 7:00

Date:  Tuesday, November 18^th, 2014

Cost: Pizza Dinner & Child Care Provided

FREE!

 

Come join us for a Parent Information Night on November 18^th, 2014. Author and national speaker Diane Gossen, will present strategies that support your child to be more responsible.  She will share how this method is working in the St. James-Assiniboia School Division, and answer questions you may have regarding parenting your child.

 

Topics such as the following will be discussed:

☺   Ways to help your child take responsibility for their own actions

☺   Why your child behaves the way they do

☺   Ways you can help your child be more self-disciplined

☺   Ways to get your child’s and your needs met in a win/win approach

 

 

To register, please call Crestview School (Vicki Gillingham) at 204-885-7710,

Space is limited.

Child care may be requested with registration by Friday, November 14, 2014

 

 

Sponsored by the St. James-Assiniboia School Division

Remembrance Day Service

Our Remembrance Day Service will take place on Friday, November 7 at 11:00 AM.  All are welcome to attend this very special service in our gym.

 

 

 

Constable Cain at Linwood

Personal Safety Presentation

On October 27, the grades 2-3 students learned about different safety concepts from Constable Andrea Cain of the Winnipeg Police Service.  She used engaging music, videos and discussion to teach students how to identify unsafe situations and what to do to protect themselves. A few of the topics were: How to Identify Safe People and Places, Road Safety and Internet Safety. The children contributed relevant comments and asked questions. Please ask your child to share with you something learned from the presentation.

Internet Safety Presentation

Constable Andrea Cain encouraged the Grade 4 and 5 students to think carefully about their internet usage and online safety.

She encouraged parents to:

·       set limits around screen time

·       ensure that children only use their technology in family spaces

·       check their child’s accounts, chats and postings often

·       only allow children to download programs or apps with parental permission

·       cover webcams when not in use as they can be remotely activated

·       turn off geo-tracking on your child’s device so pictures cannot be tracked to your child’s location

The students learned that everything you post on the internet is there FOREVER and that everything you say or do online can be tracked back to you.  She taught to “THINK” before we post:

T – is it True?

H – is it Hurtful?

I – is it Illegal

N – is it Necessary?

K – is it Kind?

 

She taught the children to:

·       pick secure passwords and usernames and only share these with their parents

·       keep personal information private

·       know who their followers are – real friends not people met online

·       never say unkind things or make fun of people online – that’s cyber-bullying

·       block people and tell parents if someone says/does something inappropriate

·       never agree to meet someone in person that you met online without checking with a parent

 

Berm

Construction on the latest installment Parent Council's play space improvement is almost complete.  The berm (a small, low sloped hill) will be a wonderful feature on our playground.  The originally planned location of the berm was deemed too close to the crib (wooden perimeter) of the swings.  As such, the berm is located on the west side of the field along Winchester Street.  The next step in construction is to lay the sod.  The berm will remain surrounded by the existing snow fence for a period of time to let the sod take root.  We can't wait to play on the berm when it is ready!

Halloween Parade Reminder

Linwood’s traditional Halloween parade will take place:

Friday, October 31

at 1:15 pm

in the Gym

The parade will feature Halloween music, a video story as well as class walk-abouts for the children to display their costumes.


Students will be given time after lunch to change into their costumes for the parade at 1:00 pm.

Parents are welcome to attend!

Great job, Patrols!

The Linwood School patrols have been hard at work over the last few weeks. With all of the construction happening on Bruce the patrols have been very conscientious to ensure the students arrive safely to school. Keep up the great work. The patrols appreciate your safe driving practices.

Congratulations from the Minister

Recently, Linwood School was recognized by the Honourable James Allum, Minister of Education and Advanced Learning for becoming an Eco-Globe school. For the last several years, Linwood staff and students have been working on Education for Sustainable Development by focusing on issues of environmental stewardship and social justice. To learn more about the Eco-Globe schools program visit http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/esd/eco_globe/

Magazine Orders Due

Today is the last day of our QSP Magazine fundraiser. This is the only fundraiser throughout the year where the school receives the proceeds. All funds raised go directly towards the cost of classroom field trips (admission, transportation). Teachers have already pre-booked some wonderful trips including Manitoba Theatre for Young People, Fort Whyte Alive, and Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. Orders are due back to your child's homeroom teacher tomorrow, Friday, October 17. We thank all families for their participation.

Lunch Supervisors Wanted!

We are currently looking for lunch supervisors to fill full time (one hour every day) and part time (one hour four or less days per week) positions. Please call the school office at 204-889-9356 if you are interested. Hours are from 11:50 AM to 12:50 PM at a rate of about $12.45/hour.

Lunch Supervisors Wanted!

We are currently looking for lunch supervisors to fill full time (one hour every day) and part time (one hour four or less days per week) positions. Please call the school office at 204-889-9356 if you are interested. Hours are from 11:50 AM to 12:50 PM at a rate of about $12.45/hour.

We are Thankful for...

Ms. Dowd and her Kindergarten students have shared this video.  Enjoy!

A Message from Constable Sue

Hello to All!

 My name is Sue Zuk-Boyer, and I am the Winnipeg Police Service School Resource Officer for Linwood School this year.  The students and staff call me Cst. Sue.   I have been with the City of Winnipeg Police for over 28 years and an officer for 24 years.  This is my second year in the St James School Division and I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you a bit about our unit and program.

The School Resource Unit began over 10 years ago in the Winnipeg 1 School Division. It is jointly funded by the school division, the Province and the Winnipeg Police Service. Since its inception, the unit has grown to 13 constables, 1 patrol sergeant and 1 Sergeant. The 13 officers are responsible for approximately 133 schools within 3 divisions, those being Pembina Trails, Winnipeg and St. James. School Resource Officers (SRO’s) act as liaisons between the school divisions and the Winnipeg Police Service, and assist with many aspects of the daily functioning of the school.

The main duty of an SRO is to foster good relationships between the schools, public and police service. SRO’s can act as role models to the students and assist them in making positive choices to affect their future. An SRO needs to be approachable for the students so they feel comfortable coming forward and disclosing any dangerous activities that may be affecting the well-being of the students while at school.

An SRO can be called upon to offer legal direction to the school to deal with certain situations. While some situations may be serious, they may not necessarily be illegal, therefore SRO’s can offer direction as to how to handle the situation or assist with mediation. SRO’s can take reports from the school regarding property damage or thefts or assist with major reports that can be forwarded to the respective division for further investigation. SRO’s can also assist administrators with dealing with ongoing issues in the school in attempt to rectify them.

SRO’s can also affect arrests if necessary when dealing with students who have broken the law and need to be accountable through the justice system.

If at any time during the school year you may wish to contact me, please feel free to leave your name,number or email with the office staff and I will contact you,

I look forward to spending another year with the students at Linwood School!

 

Giving Tree Club

Linwood's Giving Tree Club is a group that works together to do good in our local and global communities.  All students in Grades 1-5 are welcome to attend.  Yesterday was the first meeting of the year and we had a fabulous turn out.  The students shared ideas about projects they might take on this year, the first of which is the Bag It Up challenge.  The next meeting of the Giving Tree Club will be on Thursday, October 30th at lunch time where members will see how many plastic bags we collected to help our earth.  This date hadn't been selected at the time of printing the activity calendar, so please pencil it in on your copy!

Story Time with the Principal

This is a long-standing Linwood tradition where students meet informally with the principal to share a snack and hear a story.  Each month a few students from each room attend, with every student taking a turn at some point during the school year.  In October, the following students heard Wolf by Becky Bloom or Henry & the Buccaneer Bunnies by Carolyn Crimi:

Caroline, Griffin P., Mattejas, Kylie, Jaxon, Hudson, Landon, Cara, Cameron, Heather, Violet, Benjamin G., Dom, Matthew H., Blake, Margareth, Makayla, Max P.,  Luke, John A., Tiffany O., Connor S., Phoenix, Maggie, Cleo, Jerin, Fiona, Zia, Nathan, Taryn and Edwin.

Donations for Indoor Recess

As the weather begins to cool, we begin to assess our resources for those long days of indoor recess.  We are welcoming donations of items for use in the classrooms and the lunch room.  If your closets are getting a bit too full 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)

Halloween Parade

Linwood’s traditional Halloween parade will take place:

Friday, October 31

at 1:15 pm

in the Gym

The parade will feature Halloween music, a video story as well as class walk-abouts for the children to display their costumes.

Students will be given time to change for the parade at 1:00 pm.

Parents are welcome to attend!

Roots of Empathy

We would like to welcome baby Max and his mom Vivi into our school community as our Roots of Empathy family this year. The Roots of Empathy program is an evidence-based classroom program that has shown dramatic effects in reducing aggression and raising social and emotional competence, as well as empathy, in school-aged children.

The students of Room 6 were delighted by Max’s toothless grin and started to learn what Max can do and what he prefers. They discovered that Max could communicate with his body and the sounds he makes. He likes looking at faces, listening to Room 6 singing and being with his mom. We look forward to an exciting year of learning with baby Max as our special teacher!

  

Kids in the Know: A Personal Safety Program

Beginning this week, the Gr. 4/5 classrooms will be participating in the Kids in the Know program, which is a abuse prevention and personal safety program. Mrs. Turner, the guidance counselor, will deliver the lessons due to the potentially sensitive nature.

Students in Grade 4/5 will have four lessons covering these topics:

• Safe adults, breaking boundaries and keep vs. speak secrets
• Common lures
• Home alone safety
• Online safety

The curriculum that will be used for all of these units is called “Kids in the Know”.  This curriculum is provided by The Canadian Centre for Child Protection.  Information about the program is available by calling The Canadian Centre for Child Protection at 1-800-532-9135 or at their website www.kidsintheknow.ca. Please visit this website as there is excellent parent information for you to review. Click on “Safety Tools” and then select the grade of your child to view grade appropriate materials and information.

Cross Country

Congratulations to all of our Grade 4 & 5 Cross Country Team members who did a fabulous job representing Linwood at yesterday's Divisional meet.  This was the final event of the Cross Country season.  We hope to see you all back for Walk/Run Club in the spring.  Big thanks to Mrs. Chumola and Ms. Palsson for their dedication to our runners.  Enjoy some photos below!

Olivia crossing the finish line!

Great job, Aidan!

Connor shows us his ribbon!

Nathan showed great sportsmanship!

Strong finish, Charlea!

Plastic Bag Round Up Challenge!

From now until Wednesday, October 29th, Linwood School will be collecting plastic bags as part of this challenge.  A detailed list of acceptable items is found below.  Please bundle your items and bring them to school.  The Giving Tree Club will be working together to organize this event- students who would like to get involved will hear more information on upcoming morning announcements.  Let's do our part to help!

  

  

MMSM Bag Up Manitoba -- Plastic Bag Roundup Challenge, a program of Take Pride Winnipeg! Inc.

Since the fall of 2008, elementary schools in Manitoba have collected over FOUR MILLION plastic bags for recycling into free Frisbees, bird houses, and benches for their schools. This year, the participation prize is a garden box, made from recycled plastic, from TREX!
Inspire your students to do more to reduce their waste and consider reusing, recycling and remanufacturing options! This challenge is open to elementary schools across Manitoba.
The goal of this challenge is to inspire students to do more to reduce their waste and consider reusing, recycling and remanufacturing options. Students are asked to collect as many plastic shopping bags as possible and bring them to their school for recycling.

Plastic items accepted:
grocery bags
retail bags
newspaper sleeves
produce bags
bread bags
ice bags
bubble wrap
case over wrap
pellet bags
salt bags
dry cleaning bags
re-sealable food bags
cereal bags
 
Take Pride Winnipeg! is proud to partner with Multi-Material Stewardship Manitoba (MMSM) to bring you this free and fun program. Take Pride Winnipeg! also acknowledges the support of BFI Canada, Gardewine Group Inc., Trex and Canada Safeway in helping MMSM Bag Up Manitoba 2014 be a great success.
 

 







 

 

Remembrance Day Service

Our Remembrance Day Service will take place on Friday, November 7 at 11:00 AM.  All are welcome to attend this very special service in our gym.

This year, we would like to invite participation from our families who are actively in service with any branch of the Canadian Armed Forces.  Interested family members may contact the music teacher, Mrs. Wurch, by email cwurch@sjsd.net or by calling the school office at 204-889-9356.

A Peak into Linwood’s Choir and Recorder Club

Enthusiastic singers in Grades 3,4 & 5 have begun meeting on Day 2 during their lunch recess to begin working on songs for upcoming performances. These will include Remembrance Day, Winter Concert, and the Winnipeg Music Festival. We are already excited to share our songs with Linwood students and families at these events! New choir members are welcome to join!

 

New to Linwood this year is our Recorder Club. Meeting on Day 6 during lunch recess, the Recorder Club will be working on improving our musicianship as well as learning pieces to perform at our Remembrance Day and Winter Concerts. Although we won’t be able to practice every day outside we did take advantage of this gorgeous fall day and filled the skies with beautiful music! Thank you to Mr. Blake who will be assisting the Recorder Club this year! New members are always welcome!

 

 

 

Volunteers Needed

It is that time of year again for our annual Vision and Hearing Screening and we will be in need of some volunteers.

Vision Screening will start October 20^th.

Hearing Screening will start November 12^th.

If you are available either or both of these dates and would like to volunteer, please contact the Resource teacher, Mrs. Rhonda Forcand, either by calling the school at 204-889-9356 or by email at  rforcand@sjsd.net

No experience is necessary, volunteers will be provided with instructions. Your assistance is greatly appreciated!

 

 

 

 

 

Team Handball Coming Up!

Grade 4 and 5 students have the opportunity to participate in afterschool Team Handball club. Permission slips will go home this Friday. Check out Mrs. Rogala's web page for specific dates for practices and games.

Terry Fox

On September 24^th, we participated in the Terry Fox National School Run.  All of our staff and students walked or ran in support of Terry Fox.  Over the week, our students have been bringing in donations for cancer research and learning about Terry Fox.  He has inspired many people to never give up on their dreams.  Thank you to parents, staff, and students for your continued support.

 Room 1 (Grade 1) says: "We are learning about Terry Fox. Terry Fox is special because he ran across Canada to raise money for cancer. He ran to help others because he cared about them. He is very important to all of us. We made a video about Terry Fox to share with you. We hope you like it."

Divisional Youth Forum

Today three Linwood students, Hailey, Abbie and Maxwell attended the 8th annual St. James-Assiniboia Youth Forum.  They were able to hear inspirational guest speakers from various organizations share ideas on how to do good in the world.  The students will work with our Giving Tree Club this year to plan various good deeds that will benefit our local and global communities.  Thank you to Ms. Jensen for being our staff leader!

Magazine Fundraiser

Today is the first day of our QSP Magazine fundraiser.  This is the only fundraiser throughout the year where the school receives the proceeds.  All funds raised go directly towards the cost of classroom field trips (admission, transportation).

Students will come home with a package of information including:

* A catalogue of more than 600 selections
*  Prize poster
* Online ordering instructions (be sure to enter our "Group ID" 3704293)
* Paper order forms

Orders are due back to your child's homeroom teacher no later than Friday, October 17.

Danielle helped out at our "kick off" assembly.

Free Little Library

Linwood School is lucky to have a  Little Free Library (LFL) on our front lawn.  It is one of a network of over 18,000 LFLs (including at least 25 in Winnipeg) in more than 70 countries.

For our new Linwood families, we'd like to let you know this is a neighbourhood book exchange where children can borrow or leave a book any time.  For our returning families, thank you for using the LFL and for sharing your books with all of us.

Throughout the year, if you are thinning out your children's books, please consider sharing them with the LFL.  Books can be left in the blue donation bins inside the main doors.

WITS Program

At Linwood School, we continue to encourage our students to “Use Their WITS”. This program is designed to help students resolve small conflicts independently and encourages children to seek help from adults.  

 

WITS is an acronym which stands for:

W = Walk away

                I  = Ignore

               T = Talk it out

               S = Seek help

 

The WITS acronym provides a common language and set of strategies to reduce negative peer interactions. Classroom teachers will deliver lessons connected to stories throughout the year about using the WITS strategies.

 

Students are taught to seek help right away if they do not feel safe, if someone is hurt or if a problem persists.

 

 

Picture Day

Today was Picture Day at Linwood.  We took class photos and got our pictures taken individually.  Proofs of the photos will be delivered to the school and sent home with your child in approximately two weeks time.  Order forms will be included with the proofs.  Retakes will be held on Thursday, October 30th in the AM only.  Parents of students in PM Kindergarten wishing to have retakes are invited to bring their child to school at 9:00 AM and will be first to have their photos taken.

Enjoy a couple of "behind the scenes" shots:



Room 15 getting ready for their class photo.



A little early morning silliness from the staff.