École St. Matthew's School Gazette

We are pleased to share our November newsletter containing important updates and information for all our École St. Matthew's School families. Please enjoy our review of the month that was, and all that is in-store for the month to come.

Here's to an excellent November of learning and friendship at ÉSMS!

Charmayne & Allison

Charmayne Rumbolt, Principal

Allison North, Assistant Principal

On behalf of our community partners, we thank all our families for your contributions to the VOCM + Metrobus Thanksgiving Food Drive as well as the VOCM Cares Coats for Kids campaigns. Your kindnesses will fill bellies and warm bodies and hearts for many.

We are grateful for your example of compassion and care.

Please join us in extending heartfelt congratulations to ÉSMS Grade 1 teacher Ms.Tara Reid who recently recieved the Minister's Award for Compassion in Teaching.

Ms. Reid was nominated by her colleagues last year in recognition of her steadfast compassion and dedication in her teaching and learning journey. She bestows so much collegiality to her peers in creating safe spaces for students of ÉSMS and inspires us all to tend to the social and emotional needs of others in our school community. Her work at our school epitomizes equity in education and aims to empower students through health and wellness, multisensory therapies to help children share their narratives and de-stigmatize the school setting for students in providing their needs with safety, discretion and compassion.

Her work last year with Ms.Chislett in creating Matt's Market and for carrying on the legacy of the Girls' Fun Run is truly inspiring and was instrumental the continuity of culture at our school and in helping our team achieve our school development goals last year as we presented our new school vision: Hearts ● Minds ● Spirit

Thank you, Ms. Reid!

This month, teachers and staff at École St. Matthew’s School will continue to engage in meaningful learning to inform our practice as we strive for improved student engagement and learning for all.

Our final school-based learning session for Term 1 will take place on Monday, November 20. There will be no classes for students on that day, and it will be Day 4 on our schedule when we return to classes on Tuesday, November 21.

Please note that all schools within the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District will be closed on Monday, November 13 to mark the Remembrance Day holiday. It will be Day 6 on our 7-day schedule when school reopens on Tuesday, November 14. At École St. Matthew's School we always like to take the time to honour this important day. This year, our Grade 4 classes are preparing our Remembrance Day assembly for students and Grade 4 families. More information will be shared directly with these families in the days ahead.

We are once again installing our Wall of Honour to remember and honour relatives of our students who have served our country. If you are a new family to our school community and your child has a relative who is/was a veteran of war, we would like you to provide a photocopy of a photograph, the name of the veteran, relation to the student, and the manner in which he/she served our country. Please remember that your photo will not be returned so ensure it is indeed a copy. We ask that you forward this information by Tuesday, November 7.

Thank you so much to all the staff, students and families of École St. Matthew’s School for making our first Silly Squad such a great success. We raised $382.95 for all the little heroes at the Janeway!

Our next Silly Squad will take place on Friday, November 24, which will be Tiger Spirit Day. Staff and students are encouraged to wear school swag (arriving soon!) or our school colours of black and orange. We will collect spare change to help support local families this holiday season.

A HUGE thank you to our LRC Family and Student Volunteers. Our ÉSMS Family Volunteers have been busy weeding and organising our book collection, covering our new books and giving design and layout suggestions to make everything run smoother in the LRC.

Our student volunteers have been carefully returning student-borrowed books

to the stacks so they can easily be found by all our readers.

We’re so appreciative of the work and time our volunteers donate.

They’re making the ÉSMS LRC phenomenally fun!

Many thanks to all ÉSMS learners for doing their best to

return their books on book exchange day!

That effort assures that others can enjoy that book they just did.

During our 2023 Fall Participation Nation Unplugged After School Program for grades 4-7, we have been participating in Cricket and Outdoor Activities. On Tuesdays with CricketNL, the students have been learning about the sport of cricket and developing skills such as hitting, fielding, throwing and bowling. On Thursdays at Rotary Park with the

City of St. John's Outdoor staff our students have been learning lifelong skills such as

Archery, Shelter Building, Orienteering, Fire Safety and Fire Building.

School Lunch ordering for the month of December opens on Tuesday, November 7th and closes on Wednesday, November 15th. If you missed out on the orders for November, you can still register and place an order for December. Registration is available online only and is required to order meals. To register please visit https://schoollunch.ca/. We also ask that you attempt to select menu options that your child will eat to reduce food wastage.

Our Scholastic Book Fair is coming in early December. Scholastic Book Fairs are a great source of revenue for our school and learning resources. Last year we recouped nearly $4000 in Scholastic Education Credits. Those funds have been used to purchase Science of Reading literacy manipulatives and STEM Materials that your children are currently using as they learn.

When children buy books and materials at our Fair, they receive a double benefit; they have the joy of owning and treasuring the books they chose themselves AND credits from their purchases empower their in-school learning.

There are three ways YOU can help us fundraise with Scholastic Book Fairs:

1) Volunteer at the Book Fair between December 4th to 8th. Volunteers help us keep the Fair organized and stocked. They are our cashiers and they lead students to books of interest. Volunteers play the very important role of tracking out of stock items so that children can get the book that's sold out on the day. You can register to volunteer with the book fair here: ÉSMS Scholastic Book Fair Volunteer Form.

2) Consider shopping at the Fair for friends and family that are outside the ÉSMS school community. The holiday season will be soon upon us and a book provides a cozy, screen free adventure.

3) Encourage your children to help us do Book Talks on our new and incoming books. Research indicates that most people pick up a new book on the recommendation of a friend. Book Talks help children to organize their thoughts, sequence their comprehension, and gain valuable presenting experience, all while they encourage their peers to get more involved in reading.

Thank you for all your support and for your commitment to helping us build and strengthen children's literacy with the latest learning resources.

The Learning Resource Centre is looking for a donation of a good used colour printer with economical cartridges. The printer will be used to print student-produced CANVA projects & posters, their Wacom tablet art designs and their coded pathways for our light reading robots.

If you have access to a printer you could donate, please reach out to launshoemaker@nlesd.ca. Sincere thanks for all your support!

Term 1 report cards will be sent home to families on Friday, December 1. Our Home-School Conferences will take place in-person on Thursday, December 7. You will be receiving a separate memo as we approach reporting time, outlining the process for booking your appointment online through the OPTIS system.

While we have been incredibly fortunate to enjoy such lovely weather so far this school year, temperatures have begun to dip and conditions will soon become more wintry. Please ensure that your child is prepared for outside learning and wellness each day as we will be continuing to go outside for movement breaks and learning as the seasons change. We ask that you encourage your child to check our Lost & Found if they are missing items.

Cell phones are not permitted to be used for calls, texting or student use at school from the time students enter the building until they leave. If communication needs to be made to the parent/caregiver, students will be accommodated by office staff. Any unauthorised technology will be held by administration if students refrain from storing it away in lockers, and parents/caregivers will need to come into the building at day's end to retrieve devices.

We will be communicating with home this year through email, Twitter, and classroom websites. If you have a question or concern please email your child’s teacher or administration. Please continue to check out our St. Matthew's School Website as it is updated regularly and contains links to valuable information.

All newsletters and memos will be sent electronically to families this year and not in paper copy. It is very important to have current and valid email addresses updated.

Our 2023-2024 School Council looks forward to working in partnership with all members of our school community to ensure engagement and learning for all. Council held it's first meeting of the year and welcomed new and returning members to council. Your ÉSMS School Council is comprised as follows:

Parent Representatives:

David Buckingham

David Hutchens

Shannon Perry

Renee Williams

Teacher Representatives:

Allison North

Laun Shoemaker

Community Representatives:

John Cowan

Caroline Whelan

Principal:

Charmayne Rumbolt

Meeting minutes and upcoming meeting dates can be found on our ÉSMS website. Should a member of the school community wish to attend a Council meeting to speak to a particular matter, please send along a note to charmaynerumbolt@nlesd.ca including name and topic for discussion. This information will then be forwarded to Council Chair John Cowan for inclusion in the next meeting agenda.

Council Accolades:

School Council extends its thanks and recognition to all those staff and volunteers who ensure the safe and efficient running of the morning Kiss and Ride drop off. This initiative has been a very positive one for our families each morning, and we are grateful for your efforts!

Feedback Required:

School Council would like to proceed with process for official renaming of St. Matthew's School to École St. Matthew's School as a means to reflect our English and French Immersion streams and our dedication to the promotion of both of Canada's official languages. Any feedback on this initiative can also be forwarded to the above address for consideration by Council.

In October our learners in grades 1, 3, 6 & 7 did special curriculum related projects that involved the design-engineering process and Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math with the Learning Resource Literacy Centre (Ms. Hodder & M. Shoemaker) team. Grade one students designed, built and tested their fishing poles. In teams, Grade 3’s created their own games…from mini-golf to mazes, the games were creative, challenging and super-fun! Grade sixes made paper circuits in Halloween Cards so that their skulls and monsters had glowing eyes. Grade Sevens coded Micro Bits to display heartbeats and Halloween messages, then they built felt ornaments to hold the Micro Bits. Their work has added an eerie atmosphere to our LRC! It’s absolutely thrilling to see everyone collaborating together to design and build incredible, and useful, creations!

Exciting times in the Learning Resource Centre…in addition to sharing stories and exchanging our books, we’ve enjoyed learning robot coding with Ozobots and Botley’s, creating music with playdough and Makey Makey and colouring a shared mural. We had a fantastic basket making challenge…with just one piece of paper and two staples, students created baskets that held huge amounts of our block fruits and veggies. Some even incorporated fashion as a key part of the design! Way to read, learn and create, ÉSMS learners!

Grade 1 students in Ms. Williams' class had a great trip to O’Brien’s farm, where we learned about our 5 senses, the history of the farm, composting and took a nature walk through the farmland. We have spent sunny days enjoying the school grounds for learning and exploration and have really enjoyed our time in the makerspace doing STEAM projects! We are having an amazing fall!

Ms Tibbs Kindergarten Class spent the month of October exploring patterns, numbers, letters, and words. We used all kinds of media to show our thinking. From Lego to Playdough and everything in between. So much fun!

Lots of fun times in Ms. Ryan’s Kindergarten class in October! We visited our outdoor garden and noticed some Fall changes. We enjoy playing many activities to help us learn our letters and numbers. Now we are exploring our class pumpkin and will be turning it into a Jack O’Lantern! How many seeds will there be inside of it?

During the month of October, Mr. Spratt’s Grade 6 students have been exploring fun Halloween activities throughout the curriculum. In STEAM with Mr. Shoemaker, they explored Halloween circuits with their skulls and frankenstein faces. Art led them to create Picasso Cubism Frankensteins. In Literacy, the students were busy writing spooky stories and then recorded them using WeVideo. We started our Book Buddies with Ms. Stevenson’s grade 2/3 class. Finally, they have been busy learning about Space in Science. They researched about a specific planet, then designed an Alien Passport through Google Slides and created a 3D model of their alien in which they presented to four classes.

Ms. Stevenson’s Grade 2/3 Class has been so busy throughout October. We started Buddy Reading with Mr. Spratt’s Grade 6 students. Mr. Shoemaker helped us design and build structures to keep animals away from food. In science we got our hands dirty, exploring soil and water. Making turkeys in disguise was also a ton of fun!

M. Barry’s grade 5 class took full advantage of the “Open Minds” mobile kit from the Rooms museum to investigate artifacts, biofacts and respond to different art pieces. As well, they shared their love of reading in our school’s outdoor learning space with their “amis de lecture” in Mme Grace’s kindergarten class. Finally, these spooky students did a frightfully fantastic job on presenting their French Halloween Plays to other classes during Halloween week 🎃

Friday 10 November

Remembrance Day Assembly for students & Grade 4 families

Monday 13 November

Remembrance Day Holiday/Fall Break

Monday 20 November

Professional Learning Day for teachers; no classes for students

Friday 24 November

Silly Squad Tiger Spirit Day; spare change collected to support families during holiday season

Friday 1 December

Term 1 Reports released

OPTIS Home-School Meeting Scheduler opens at 4:00 pm

Wednesday 6 December

OPTIS Home-School Meeting Scheduler closes at NOON

Thursday 7 December

Home-School Interviews, early dismissal begins at 12:15 am

Friday 15 December

Tentative 1st Kinderstart Session; no classes for Kindergarten students

Wednesday 20 December

Final day of classes prior to holiday break, early dismissal begins at 11:15 am

Tuesday 2 January

School reopens (Day 5 on 7-day Cycle)