February is I Love to Read month and we have lots of fun activities planned. We will be hosting lots of guest readers from the area including Steinbach Piston's players, local politicians and our superintendents! We have some other fun events planned including reading challenges and special assemblies.

Reading is one of the greatest indicators of lifelong success. Our students spend time throughout the school day learning how to read and improve as readers through such things as phonics instruction, fluency practice and comprehension exercises. Teaching children to read is important and our job as educators. We have to work together with families to instill a joy of reading in our students. As parents one of the greatest gifts you can provide your child is the gift of reading. That can be accomplished by finding books your children really enjoy and reading out loud to them.

Reading at home is a great way to help improve your child's reading skills - this should be low-key and for fun. Helping them choose books that interest them and are at their current reading level is an important part of teaching kids to enjoy reading. Kids are also watching their parents closely, so demonstrating that you enjoy reading by reading a book in a place where they can see you is a great strategy!

February is always a fun month with lots of exciting activities that we hope will inspire our students to read more. Happy I Love to Read Month to our Woodlawn family!

Vince Hiebert and Marla McEachern

The Pink Shirt Story

In 2007 in Coldbrook, Nova Scotia, after a new student at their school was bullied for wearing a pink shirt, two grade 12 students bought 50 pink shirts and encouraged their classmates to wear pink. The next day they went to distribute the shirts and to their surprise the majority of students arrived wearing pink! With that act of kindness, Pink Shirt Day was born. The last Wednesday each February is Canada’s officially-recognized national Pink Shirt/anti-bullying day.

What has a spine but can’t move? Read to the end of this section to find out!

February is I Love to Read and Write month at Woodlawn! We are going to be giving students many, many fun opportunities to read AND write this month.

We’ll have special guests including Corny Rempel from MIX 96, Mayor Earl Funk, and members of the Steinbach Pistons here to read to us.

From February 18-21, the grade 4 citizenship students will lead us in lots of interesting activities. Stay tuned for more on that.

The whole school will be reading in the halls, all at the same time, and we’ll all of a sudden without warning Drop Everything and Read and Write a couple of times during the month.

Classes will be invited to submit writing projects like pictures, letters and valentines and be entered to win cool prizes.

Students can write their own riddles and may get a chance to read them to everybody on our P.A. system during morning announcements.

We’d love it if YOU would spend time reading and writing with your children this month! Check out the book fair for an amazing range of books, journals, pens and bookmarks that your children will love. And there are tons of great ideas on the internet for how to get your kids going. Here are some for K-2 and grade 3 and up. Chat GPT is sure to have some cool ideas too!

Let’s all have fun as we celebrate I LOVE TO READ and WRITE MONTH together! By the way, the answer to the riddle is: A book!!!

All parents are welcome to attend the monthly PAC meetings. The meetings are held at the school on the first Tuesday of each month at 12:00pm. The next meeting is on Tues, March 4.

Please note that OVER-THE-COUNTER MEDICATION is not to be sent to school in your child's backpack or lunch kits. All over-the-counter medication needs to be administered by a parent/guardian.

In order for PRESCRIPTION MEDICATION to be administered by staff, parents need to bring the ORIGINAL container/box with the label on. There are forms at the office for parents/guardians to fill out. It is preferred that as much as possible prescription medication be taken at home. Only in cases where the medication must be taken during the school hours will we administer it here.

During the winter months our playground can get quite icy. Our custodian works very hard to continuously put down sand around all of our entrances and walking paths. Even with the sand, we remind our students to walk carefully inside and outside of the building. There will also be recesses where our teachers may close down the structure or our hill when they become too slippery. When our students are playing on the hill, we do ask them to only slide down on their knees or bottom.

We try to get outside as much as we can. When the temperature with the wind chill is between -25 and -29, we will go out for no more than 15 minutes. When it is -30 or colder we will have indoor recess. We ask parents to make sure their children always come to school with the right cold weather clothing to be prepared to go outside. Even on very cold days, sometimes it can warm up enough to allow us to send students outside for a brief recess. Warm mittens, neck warmers, toques, and ski pants help to keep them warm and dry. We also ask that you put your child's name on these items as they often get misplaced and end up in the lost and found.

Classroom teachers will be sending out information in regards to Valentine's Day celebrations. If you are asked to bring a snack, it must be nut free. Please check with your child's teacher if you have any questions.

Are you looking for a more convenient way to let the school know about your child's attendance? You can enter your child's appointments and absences on the Parent Portal.

Students arriving after 9:05 or returning from an appointment during the school day are to report to the office for an entry slip before heading to their classroom.

Thank you to everyone for cooperating in reporting to the office when picking your child up from school during the school day.

If your child is eligible for Kindergarten Registration (must be five years of age on or before Dec. 31, 2025), our online registration is now available. Our new online registration process takes only a few minutes to complete. To begin, visit the HSD Kindergarten Registration page at https://hsd.ca/schools/student-registration/

If you do not have access to the Internet, please visit our school and we will assist you in completing the registration form on a school computer.

Registering early will assist our school in preparation and planning for the upcoming school year. Early registration also provides parents/guardians with the opportunity to participate in upcoming orientation activities.

We are super excited for the Scholastic Book Fair!

BOOK FAIR HOURS

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5

8:30 - 8:55

11:55 - 12:25 - Kindergarten , Grades 2, 3 & 4

12:25 - 12:55 - Grades 1 & 1/2

3:45 - 6:30** Open late only on Wednesday

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6

8:30 - 8:55

11:55 - 12:25 - Kindergarten , Grades 2, 3 & 4

12:25 - 12:55 - Grades 1 & 1/2

3:45 - 4:30

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7

8:30 - 8:55

11:55 - 12:25 - Kindergarten, Grades 2, 3 & 4

12:25 - 12:55 - Grades 1 & 1/2

3:45 - 4:30

Students will be browsing Monday, February 3 and Tuesday, February 4, 2024. Shopping will be Wednesday, February 5 - Friday, February 7. Check out the preview flyer going home soon for a taste of what will be at the fair. Stay tuned for more information in the letter that will be

sent home.

There are a number of bursaries available for students to help cover the cost of programs at Steinbach Arts Council. Click on "Bursaries - Steinbach Arts Council" below for information from their website.

We appreciate all of our volunteers that help out in our school throughout the year. With field trips soon starting up, it is always a good idea to check your parent portal account to see if your paperwork is current. This will help prevent missing out on a field trip opportunity because of paperwork not being complete. If you have any questions, please email the office at: woodlawn@hsd.ca.

To ensure the safety of our students and due to the congestion of our staff parking lots and bus loop areas, parents are not to enter those areas between 8:00-4:30. If you are dropping off or picking up your child, please park on the street or on the church yard (do not block entrances) across from the school. Please do not park or drop off students in the rear parking lot off Barkman Ave.

For the safety of your child, we request that you escort your child across Henry Street, Barkman Street and Penner Street.

All school busses that are running late or cancelled will be posted on the Hanover School Division website at www.hsd.ca
Under the Departments tab you will find Transportation, Bus Delay Bulletins, and a list of affected busses.

The transportation department will no longer be calling individual homes when busses are delayed. When a bus route is cancelled due to weather or road conditions it may be cancelled for the a.m. and p.m. runs. If you drive your students to school, you will need to confirm whether or not your bus is operating in the afternoon. Please call transportation at 204-320-2347.

Parents will be expected to obtain information, if needed, on the status of their bus through the website. Busses that are running more than 10 minutes late on a given day will have the bus number and estimated lateness posted on the page. Homes that do not have computer access to the web should make arrangements with another family on the route whom they could contact.

Email: woodlawn@hsd.ca
Website: www.woodlawn.hsd.ca
Location: 411 Henry St, Steinbach, MB, Canada R5G 0R1
Phone: 204-326-6110
Twitter: @WoodlawnHSD