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Woodlawn Early Years School
April 2024 Newsletter
A Message from the Principals
Tara Reimer, our current vice principal will be leaving Woodlawn School at the end of the June. She has accepted a classroom teaching position in the division. Tara is just completing her Masters of Education in numeracy and she wants to put everything she has learned into practice. While that is great news for her new school, it is sad news for all of us here at Woodlawn. Tara has been at Woodlawn for 16 years. She has been a classroom teacher, a learning support teacher and a vice principal. I have worked closely with Tara as a part of the learning support team and the admin team and I have learned so much from her. Tara is a hard working, dedicated educator who truly cares about kids and she will be greatly missed by everyone. I thank Tara for all that she has poured into Woodlawn over the years. We will miss you!
Karen Fraser
A Message from the Counsellors
Numeracy News
2W and 2PR have also jumped into counting collections. The teachers observed in one of the Kindergarten classes during their counting collections. There is quite a difference in thinking and reasoning from Kindergarten to Grade 2, but seeing the process and listening and observing the children's thinking gave the teachers and idea of how it would unfold in their grade 2 classes. By grade 2, many of the kids are beginning to move from counting by ones to reasoning additively and some are starting to think multiplicatively. In counting collections, a teacher may notice this in the examples below:
Progression of Reasoning:
Counting Strategies: Students in this stage are often counting each item by ones. They may be putting items into groups (e.g., putting 10 gems into each cup), but when they are counting, they are only counting the objects by one.
Additive Thinking: Students are grouping the objects and starting to count in bigger amounts than just ones. They could put 10 gems into each cup and then count by 10s to find the total. When kids use skip counting (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70), they are thinking additively, even though they are solving multiplication questions (e.g., 7 groups of 10).
Multiplicative Thinking: This is a higher level of thinking. Kids who are starting to reason multiplicatively are able to work with bigger chunks than one group at a time. This can be a bit harder to observe in counting collections. You may need to really listen to what the kids are doing. An example of thinking at this level would be if students put objects into groups (e.g., they put 6 gems in each of the 12 carton spots) and instead of counting by 6s (6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 42, 48, 54, 60, 66, 72) you may hear them saying "I know that 10 groups of 6 is 60 and I have two more groups (12) left which means I have 72.
Literacy News
Wordless books are a wonderful tool to help children look closely at the details in the picture and create a story by thinking about the pictures. Mrs. Angela Martin has been using wordless books in her two kindergarten classes to help her students learn to make connections and predictions in stories. Wordless books can be effective with children who do not yet know how to read. And it can also be a powerful tool for children who can already read, to deepen their predicting, comprehending and storytelling abilities. They could also use the pictures as prompts to illustrate and write their own stories.
Recently KM1 and KM2 did a prediction/connection activity using the wordless book Chalk by Bill Thomson. Mrs. Martin introduced the story on the first page of the story without telling them the title. On the first page you see three children walking in the rain and a green plastic dinosaur with a gift bag hanging from it. Then you turn the page and see the children peeking in the bag. At this point the teacher stopped, and each student was challenged to think about a time they received a gift bag, “What was in it?”. Next they were sent to their Learning Journals to record what they predicted would be in the gift bag from the story. The pictures below show four predictions: a bear, pencils, an umbrella, and a card.
After the students recorded our predictions, they met back at the carpet and shared what they thought it would be and why they thought that.
They continued through the story bit by bit, seeing how the children found chalk in the bag and discovered that what they drew with chalk became a real thing. What was each child going to draw? What if a child drew something a bit scary? How would they be safe? The class went page by page making predictions based on their own experiences, sharing those predictions and then finding out what actually happened in the story. At the end, the students each got a chance to draw something with chalk that they wanted to become real and share it with their class. They came up with some fantastic ideas.
The students were captivated by the book and their chance to creatively “read it”. In fact, one child who sometimes finds it tricky to participate in class activities was really drawn in by the story and its pictures. This child was able to talk about what they saw, ask many good questions, and try to predict what would happen next in the story. It was a great learning experience for that student and the whole class.
If you’re curious, the story can be viewed here.
Mrs. Martin is going to continue using wordless books in her class as one tool in supporting rich conversations and creative thinking. If you’re interested in looking at wordless books with your child, you can find these types of books online, at our own Woodlawn library and at the Jake Epp library among other places. Just search for wordless books or books without pictures. You can also take a picture book with a well constructed, interesting plot and cover up or ignore the words and just talk through the story with your child. You might be amazed at what fascinating ideas your child comes up with. Enjoy!
Indigenous Education
Our Indigenous leadership groups have been busy spending time with Marlene and Diana. They have learned about and made dream catchers. All of the grade 3 and 4 students in the group just started making ribbon skirts and ribbon vests. They learned that these items are worn during ceremony and celebrations. If you would like your child to participate in our visits with the elder and knowledge keeper, please email Karen Fraser at kfraser@hsd.ca.
Medication
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 parent/guardians to fill out.
Volunteering In Our School
Click HERE to read what will be needed to volunteer.
Spring Picture Day - Wednesday, May 22
Spring picture day is Wednesday, May 22. Forms will be sent home with students.
If you have a kindergarten child in KG1 or KM1 (attending on odd days), please bring them at 10 am.
Bus Evacuations
During the week of April 16 - 19, our bus drivers will be practicing bus evacuations with the students on their buses. They go over what to do in an emergency. They also model and practice how to safely get off the bus in the event of an emergency. If your child’s bus driver does this on the drive home, they may arrive slightly later than usual. For those of you who are new to Woodlawn this year, as a school we also review bus safety rules and expectations in October each year. The following expectations will help to keep your child safe which is our top priority.
Parents are expected to wait with their child in the morning until they are safely on the bus.
Parents are expected to be at the bus stop when your child is dropped off.
Students are expected to be safe and kind on the bus. Bus misconducts are communicated to parents/guardians and to the school principals. Please review HSD’s Student Code of Conduct on the School Bus
For more bus safety tips, please review the following safety pamphlet.
April Showers
We expect the playground to be wet and muddy for a few weeks with the snow melting.
Spring Concerts
Spring concerts are coming soon! Our Grade 1 Spring Concert will be April 30 and our Grade 1/2 and Grade 2 Concert will be May 2. More information will be sent out.
PAC Update
Hello Woodlawn Families,
Your friendly neighbourhood PAC here. Hoping everyone had a lovely spring break.
Big Big Thank You to everyone who donated to Taco Thursday for the staff. They greatly appreciated it.
Reminder that our Rocco's Pizza fundraiser is currently running. Order forms and money are due April 10th, and pizza's will be available April 23rd for pick up. If you have any questions or concerns, please email Tamara at roachtamara13@gmail.com.
Funds from the fundraiser will be going towards expanding our outdoor play area to include more inclusive spaces. We are excited to be moving forward with this, just waiting on a few details to be confirmed before we can fully share the big picture with you all.
Our next PAC meeting will be April 9th at 11:05 in the Library, everyone is welcome.
If you have any questions, concerns, or want more information about PAC, please feel free to contact us at woodlawnelementarypac@gmail.com.
Have a lovely Spring
Ang Plett
PAC Chair
KEEPING OUR BIKES SAFE
SAFE CROSSING ON HENRY AND BARKMAN
We also have a crossing guard helping students cross at Barkman and Penner in the morning and afternoon.
Our staff have witnessed several instances when parents have ignored our requests to follow these processes. Please know that we are not trying to inconvenience you. Rather we are trying to help our students get to and from school safely. Thank you to all of you who help your children learn to follow safety rules and develop good habits.
Reminder:
Kindergarten 2024-2025
If your child is eligible for Kindergarten Registration (must be five years of age on or before Dec. 31, 2024), 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.
Please pass this information to any friend, neighbor or relative who may have children eligible for Kindergarten and who might not be aware of the registration process.
WHAT SHOULD I DO IF MY CHILD IS SICK?
Grow a row
For over a decade, Woodlawn students and their families have been involved in harvesting root vegetables for Southeast Helping Hands. We started with a Woodlawn Community Garden, and have since transitioned to inviting our families to donate from their own gardens, or to purchase and donate vegetables in the autumn. These vegetables have benefited families in need from our local community. We are inviting Woodlawn students and their families to participate in our annual: Grow a Row for Those in Need gardening campaign. We are looking for root vegetables like: potatoes, carrots, onions, turnips, beets, pumpkins and squash.
Participating families are asked to bring their produce to Southeast Helping Hands in the autumn, located at 525 Main Street in Steinbach.
If you don’t plan on having a garden, but would still like to donate some root vegetables, your contribution is greatly appreciated.
Thank you for your willingness to participate! We are excited to continue Woodlawn’s legacy of giving back to our local community and teaching children how to be generous, thoughtful, and caring citizens.
Interested in becoming a bus driver?
About Us
Email: woodlawn@hsd.ca
Website: www.woodlawn.hsd.ca
Location: 411 Henry St, Steinbach, MB, Canada R5G 0R1
Phone: 204-326-6110
Twitter: @WoodlawnHSD