Mitchell Elementary

A Great Place to Grow!

Instagram: meshanover

Email: mes@hsd.ca
Website: www.mes.hsd.ca
Location: 99 Willow Street, Mitchell, MB, Canada
Phone: 204-326-6622
Twitter: @MEShanover

This past month we have had a full slate of activities including term 2 student progress reports, winter fun day, and our pizza fundraiser. Thank you to PAC for your continued support along all of these fronts.

Spring melt is near and with it the anticipation of all things new. I would like to thank Debbie Klassen for her help in the library for the last 2 plus years. We wish you well in your future endeavors and hope you come to visit us. We also announce and welcome back Susan Nickel to the position of Librarian Support Specialist beginning in April.

Looking forward we are excited for Gr 2 swimming and our Kindergarten orientation in the weeks ahead. Wishing you all a fun filled Spring Break

CARING FOR KIDS

MES is a place where we care about those around us in our community and for those who need help across the world.

For the past twelve years, MES has partnered with Provision of Hope in helping children from Liberia, Africa. Education has the power to change lives and gives children a chance to move ahead in life and break the cycle of poverty. Children in Liberia have to pay to go to school and if their family doesn't have enough money, they are not allowed to attend school which puts them at a great disadvantage. We want to help!

MES students will be participating in activities to learn about Liberia and the students we sponsor there. We have named this event “Caring for Kids.” On April 6th, students will bring home envelopes to collect funds to continue sponsoring our 16 children for the next school year. Please return funds on April 18th and join us in caring for kids in Africa.

Kindergarten registration for the 2023-2024 school year is now open. To be eligible, children must be five years of age on or before December 31, 2023. The registration process will take place online at www.hsd.ca. If you do not have access to the internet, please visit the school office and we can assist you in completing the registration on a school computer.

Parents/Guardians are encouraged to register their children soon. Early registration will assist us in preparation and planning for the upcoming school year. Registering before March 15, 2023, will ensure there is sufficient time for school appointments and provide parents/guardians with the opportunity to participate in Kindergarten orientation activities. Visit www.hsd.ca for registration instructions.

Hanover School Division is excited to announce that we have partnered with The Lions Club to offer vision screening to all of our students in Grade 1. The program is very similar to the hearing screening we conduct in the fall every year.

Members of The Lions Club have been trained in the use of the SPOT Vision Screener and will

use this tool to screen children in all HSD classrooms. The vision screener they use is capable of screening for Myopia (near-sightedness), Hyperopia (far-sightedness) and Anisocoria (pupil size deviation). In addition, Astigmatism (blurred vision), Anisometropia (unequal refractive power) and Strabismus (eye misalignment) which can result in Amblyopia (lazy-eye).

The individual screening takes just a few seconds and is performed from a distance of about three feet. There is no physical contact with the child and no eye drops are administered. The individual conducting the screening will provide a print-out of the results for each child for whom a follow up appointment is recommended with an eye care professional. If you would prefer to have your child "opt-out" of the screening assessment, please notify your child's teacher. It is important to understand that it is only a screening and does not constitute an examination or diagnosis of vision problems.

Our school screening day is scheduled for April 13, 2023.

This service is offered free of charge by the Lions Club under the MD5M Lions Kidsight vision screening program. A brochure with more information will be sent through Bright Arrow to all the Grade 1 students.

Our Niakwa Pizza fundraiser was a success! Thank you for supporting our community as we continue to raise money for the Meteor play structure.

There are still quite a few students that have not paid their student fees for the 2022-2023 school year. Please pay online on Parent Portal or bring cash or a cheque payable to MES to the school office.

We are looking forward to another great season of baseball and girls softball in Mitchell.

Please visit www.mitchellminorball.ca to register for the upcoming season.

For other updates throughout the season please follow Mitchell Expos Baseball on Instagram and Facebook.

For questions about a specific age group please contact the rep for each level (https://www.mitchellminorball.ca/contact.html). Any general questions can be sent to this email address: mitchellminorballassociation@gmail.com.

**Note that there is currently no charge for 18U registration as in the past few years players have been transferred to other towns as we didn't have enough players to have a team. Please still register with Mitchell, and if there is enough interest we will have a team, if not we will transfer players out again.

ARRIVALS & DEPARTURES

Thank you to all parents for keeping our bus loop clear and safe. This is just a quick reminder to all our students and parents of the bus loop rules:

1) Refrain from using the bus loop between 8:00am and 4:00pm (during school hours).

2) If you are dropping off or picking up students please do so from the street in front of the school (please do not drive onto the staff parking lot.)

3) Always walk around the front of the first bus, or the back of the last bus (not between them!) when more than one bus is stopped in the bus loop.

4) Please remind children who walk or bike to school to do so on the appropriate sides of the street so that buses and other vehicles can pass safely.

PARKING & PICK-UP:

Please take note of the areas that are safe for parking. The Mitchell Gospel Church is willing to let parents use their parking lot during the hours of 8:15-9:00 and 3:00-3:45 pm. This is the parking area one block directly south of the school down the path that connects to Willow & Oakview.

In the interest of maximizing learning time in the classroom and keeping interruptions to a minimum, please make home time arrangements with your child(ren) before they leave for school in the morning.

Send a message on Seesaw if home time arrangements are different from your normal routine, whether your child is going home with someone else or being picked up at the end of the day.

If you must phone the school regarding a change in home time arrangements please call before 2:30 pm.
If you are picking your child up for an appointment during the school day, please sign your child out at the office and the secretary will call your child to meet you at the office.

We are excited that you want to volunteer in our school!

The volunteer process is as follows:

• Fill out the Child Abuse Registry Forms at the school office.

• Email Carole at the RCMP to request the form for a Vulnerable Sector Check (VSC). Her email address is: carole.robidoux@rcmp-grc.gc.ca

• When emailing her, please include the letter that we will provide to you indicating that you are a volunteer. This will ensure that you are not charged a fee for the check.

• Be sure to let Carole know if your mailing address is different from your physical address.

• Once you receive your VSC in the mail, please bring it to the school so that we can forward it to the appropriate department in the school division.

• Once you are approved, it will be noted under the Student Information tab in your Parent Portal account.

Please note that this whole process can take 4 - 8 weeks until you are approved.

You will be required to complete an annual declaration form each school year to verify that you have had no convictions since the date of your application.

Hanover Parent Child Community Program is offering a preschool program at MES in our hut.

• Tuesday afternoons 1-3 pm
• Thursday mornings 9:15-11:45 am

Children will have the opportunity to play, learn, create, sing, and develop skills to prepare them for kindergarten.

Children ages 0-5 are welcome. You do not need to have a child attending the school, so feel free to invite other families that don’t have school aged children. Parents will be able to visit with other parents and participate in activities with their children. Programming is free and snacks will be provided.

Families can attend once or twice a week or drop by when able. We follow Hanover School Division’s calendar of in-services, holiday closures as well as hazardous/cold weather school closures. Our program is free to attend, and we can hardly wait to meet you!

Please contact Stacey Marcoux at (204) 326-9829 or email smarcoux@hsd.ca for more information.

Please let the school know if your child will not be attending school. This can be done through Parent Portal, phone call to the school office (204) 326-6622, voicemail, email to mes@hsd.ca or See Saw to the teacher.

Rocco's pizza is for sale on Fridays at lunch time.

**Please note*** Pizza tickets are sold in bundles of 4 for $10 (1 ticket per slice).

We will not be selling individual tickets. Tickets can be purchased by sending cash or cheque (payable to MES) to your child's homeroom teacher. If you would like to make a payment via the Parent Portal, please notify the school office by email to mes@hsd.ca to make arrangements.

Chocolate milk is available everyday at lunch time.

**Please note** Milk tickets are sold in bundles of 10 for $10.

We will not be selling individual tickets for milk cartons. Tickets can be purchased by sending cash or cheque (payable to MES) to your child's homeroom teacher.

If you would like to make a payment via the Parent Portal, please notify the school office by email at mes@hsd.ca to make arrangements.

Chair: Meagan Plett

Corinna Rickey

Kara Fehr

Andrea Nedohin

Meghan Matthews

Elly Carr

Naomi Reimer

Heather Ginter

Angie Koop

We have some students who have severe, life-threatening peanut allergies. We are encouraging parents to keep this in mind as you pack lunches/snacks for your children. Please avoid nut products.

3 Back to school

5 2W starts Swimming Lessons

6 2T starts Swimming Lessons

6-18 Liberia Fundraiser

7 Good Friday - No classes

13 Vison Screening for Grade 1's

14 2SP and 1/2S (Grade 2's) start Swimming Lessons

17 Admin/PD Day - No classes