Elmdale School

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are all settling into your "new normal" and finding ways to make things work for you and your family as we navigate through this School Closure time. I want to thank you as parents for all you are doing these days.

I have heard many positive remarks from families over the past few weeks, especially praising the teachers at Elmdale during this time. This is something I would like to echo - a huge thank you to our wonderful teachers who are working extremely hard to make sure every student has meaningful learning experiences available to them at home. It's been a challenge trying to balance enough work with too much or too little as every child learns differently, but I know that using SeeSaw, email, Google Meet and other technology has helped them to do their best at that. So a huge thank you to the Elmdale Teachers!

As we look to the next couple of months and planning for the fall, there are so many unknowns. Some are waiting for direction from the province, others from the school division, yet others need to wait until we know how successful the next stages of reducing restrictions are. Some things on our minds:

- Kindergarten Welcome events

- Grade 5 transition

- Grade 4 farewell

- Planning for the 2020-2021 school year

This is just a brief list. Just know that these things are on our minds and we're trying to navigate them the best that we can. In the meantime we wish you all the best as you continue your learning from home. We miss you all and hope to see you soon!

Mr. Vince Hiebert

Principal: Elmdale School

Email: vhiebert@hsd.ca

Instagram: elmdalehsd

Package Pickup - May learning packages will be available for pick-up on Monday, May 4. These packages will be a little larger than previous as they will be for the entire month of May. Pick up procedure will be the same as the most recent package.

Families are assigned times to pick up their packages as follows:

• Last name A-E - 9:30-10:30
• Last name F-J - 10:30-11:30
• Last name K-O - 11:30-12:30
• Last name P-T - 12:30-1:30
• Last name U-Z - 1:30-2:30
• If you can't make your scheduled time, the overflow time will be 2:30-3:30 for any remaining packages

3R and the Grade 4 classes will have their packages laid out in the hallway near the music room - please watch for signs. All other packages will be by in the hallway near their classroom door.

• Please return library books on Monday. There will be return bins available at the entrance. If you have any questions about your child's library books, please email Mrs. Penner at anpenner@hsd.ca.
  
• NEW Signouts - we will be allowing students to sign out books! If you are interested in signing out books, parents can email Mrs. Penner in the library at anpenner@hsd.ca with a list of books they would be interested in signing out by Friday at 2:00pm. Students can also list books they have enjoyed reading and ask for "something similar". Books will be placed with your packages to be picked up on Monday.
• If you would like to sign out books throughout the month of May, arrangements may be made with Mrs. Penner. Please email her at anpenner@hsd.ca

We are still accepting Kindergarten Registrations for the 2020-21 school year. To be eligible, children must be five years of age on or before December 31, 2020. The registration process will take place online at www.HSD.ca. If you do not have access to the Internet, please phone the school office for assistance.

We are looking at planning a grade 4 farewell of some sort. Right now planning is on hold until we know what will be permitted by the province and school division, but we would like to plan something to honour our grade 4's and say good bye to them as they move on to middle school. Depending on what is permitted for social distancing reasons, we are looking at possibly doing something with smaller groups in June or perhaps bringing everyone back in fall for a farewell of some sort. I would be very interested in hearing any ideas from parents for this. Please email vhiebert@hsd.ca if you have thoughts, ideas or suggestions to share!

We will soon be starting the process of creating class lists for the 2020-2021 school year. This is a very involved process and requires us to work closely as a school team to create class lists that are balanced and equitable for all. We take this process very seriously as we try very hard to create a positive learning environment for students.

We consider a variety of criteria when creating class lists, including:

• Achievement (balanced class composition)
• Social and behavioural considerations
• Male/Female ratio
• Group dynamics
• Learning styles
• Parent input

Parental requests are something we consider in this process, but we cannot guarantee that we can honour each request. We look closely at the merits of each request and balance that with all of the other considerations.

If a parent would like to make a specific request for a friend or teacher placement, these should be based on academic and learning needs, and be submitted in writing to Mr. Hiebert (vhiebert@hsd.ca) by May 15, 2020. All requests submitted by that date will be considered, however we cannot guarantee that all requests will be honoured. Late requests will not be considered.

Given appropriate support at home and at school, it has been our experience that the vast majority of placements are successful. Where a placement is proving to be difficult, we ask that parents and students give it the time required for friendships and classroom community building to develop.

Thank you for your continued support and commitment to your child's education.

Mr. V. Hiebert

Principal, Elmdale School

Here is our list of teachers for the 2020-2021 School Year. You'll notice a few changes and we are very sad to see a few people moving on, but very glad that most of our teachers will be the same again next year!

Learning Support - Rose Friesen

School Counsellor - Tara Klassen

Literacy Support - Pamela Reimer

Phys Ed - Kelly Tufford

Music - Louise Redekop

Kindergarten

Nichelle Doerksen

Tammy Klassen

Susanne Penner

Grade 1

Lyndsey Engel

Jennifer Mutter

Connie Johnson

Grade 2

Jo-Anne Giesbrecht

Mandy Murphy

Cheri Thiessen

Grade 3

Gavin Barkman

Melissa Fry

Grade 4

Mike Martens

Darnell Thiessen

Bethany Drewlo

Elmdale's eNewsletter

Publisher: Mr. Hiebert

Email: elmdale@hsd.ca
Website: http://elmdale.hsd.ca/
Location: 160 Elmdale Street, Steinbach, MB, Canada
Phone: 204-326-3325
Twitter: @elmdalehsd