The Polar Express St. Mary’s Elementary School Newsletter 124 Waterford Bridge Road, St. John’s, NL, Canada, A1E 1C9 Phone (709) 753-9892 Fax (709) 753-9220 Website: http://www.stmaryselementary.ca December 2017

EARLY DISMISSAL:  Please be advised that school closes for Christmas holidays on Wednesday, December 21 at 12:30 p.m. for all students. Please pack a larger recess snack as we will be having an extended recess on our last day.  We return to school on Tuesday, January 3, which is Day 5 (Music Day) on the schedule.  As the holiday season approaches, we would like to take this opportunity to extend a sincere thank you to students, staff, parents/caregivers, volunteers, and members of the School Council for your tremendous support and cooperation. We look forward to working with you all in the New Year!

Would you like to win $2500?

You could if you bought a ticket! SME is having a 50/50 draw with 5000 tickets going on sale from Dec. 1 until Dec. 20. That means a maximum prize of $2500. The winner will be announced during our Christmas movie night. There will be a seller’s prize of $50.00. Tickets will be available during school events, at the office and in your child’s bookbag.

Lateness Concern

We are concerned over the number of students arriving late in the morning. Students are expected to be in their seats to begin their day at 8:28 a.m. and classes start at 8:30 a.m. When students arrive late they often have an unsettled start to their day and interrupt the morning routines. Often the teacher has to stop teaching to help get the student settled and “caught up” on what he/she has missed. Indeed, this adds unnecessary stressors to our students. As the weather sets in, please ensure that you allow yourself adequate time so that your child(ren) can prepare for their day. We appreciate your cooperation and your child will benefit.

Recycling

Thank you to all families who continue to support our monthly Recycling Blitz. Congratulations to our recycling winners last month:

K - Ethan Marsh 1 - Maria McCarthy 2 - Nathan Dunn 3 - Emma Coffin 4 - Anna Loder 5 - Emmett Cochran 6 - Dylan Decker Our next Recycling Blitz is scheduled for Wednesday, December 21. We encourage everyone to hold on to your recycling over the Christmas break as our January Blitz is always a big one for our school!

Christmas Sing-a-Long

On Wednesday, December 21 at 11:00 a.m. our kindergarten and grade 1 students will be leading a Christmas Sing-a-Long in the gym. All parents are welcome to join us!

The Three Bees – Be Respectful, Be Responsible, Be Safe

Blizzard & Cuddles are so proud of all our students at St. Mary’s Elementary! This term, there have been hundreds of Polar Paws given to students who have shown positive behaviors! On Friday, December 9, Blizzard & Cuddles will announce 7 names that will receive a “Boost Your Holiday Spirit Treat” from Booster Juice. The treat will be awarded to these students on Friday, December 16. Good luck to all our awesome students!

“Christmas Giving”

In the spirit of giving, we want to remember those in our school community who might need a helping hand this Christmas. This year, the Staff and School Council of St. Mary’s Elementary would like to invite you to join us in this worthy cause. If you would like to make a monetary donation, there will be container placed next to Ms Lynch’s desk until Friday, December 16. As always, your generosity is appreciated!

Kinderstart

Parents who registered a child for Kindergarten last May for the 2017-18 school year are advised of a Parent/Guardian Information meeting on Thursday, January 12 at 7:00p.m. Our Kinderstart students will join us on the following dates: January 20, February 17, March 24 and May 5. There will be no classes for current

Kindergarten students on these dates. If you know of any parent who has a child beginning school in September 2017 (a child who turns 5 by December 31, 2017) and is not yet registered, please ask the parent to contact our office.

Christmas Concert

Chapters’ staff was very impressed with our students’ performance and complimented them on their exceptional behavior. Thank you to all families who supported this event! It was a wonderful night to bring the school community together.

On Tuesday, December 13 at 6:30 p.m. (please note time change) our Grades 46 students will perform in our Christmas Concert. Doors will open 6:00 p.m. Two tickets will be reserved for each student until Wednesday, Dec. 7, when they will go on general sale. The concert will be videotaped by Kings Photography and you can pre-order your $30 DVD prior to the concert. Further ordering information will be sent home in the near future.

Winter Dress

Family Christmas Movie Night

Swimming

On Tuesday, December 20 at 6:00 p.m., the SME School Council will be hosting a movie night in our gym. Bring the whole family to view Arthur Christmas while relaxing on your blankets and pillows. Tickets are $5.00 each or $20.00 for a family, and include a snack and drink. They are available at the office on an advance purchase basis only. Proceeds will help fund our School Development initiatives.

School Wide Christmas Project

Thank you for supporting our Stuff a Sock Campaign. A representative from The United Way of Newfoundland and Labrador will be presented with the 30 socks on Thursday, December 8th. Please view the photo of the stuffing in progress at the end of the newsletter.

Grade 6 D.A.R.E. Program

Next week, our Grade 6 students will start their Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E) program with Constable Jason Coombs. He will be teaching our Grade 6 students this program for 10 weeks. Our students will learn a lot of invaluable information about keeping themselves safe and making good decisions.

Lost and Found Items

Our “Lost and Found” items box is getting quite full. We remind parents/caregivers to please check this box if your son/daughter has been missing items (clothing, lunch bags, etc.).

Chapters Night – A Success! We are very pleased to announce that our Chapters night was a huge success! We will receive a Chapters gift card that we will use to purchase additional books for our library.

During the winter months on suitable days, we will continue to take our children outdoors to play at recess and lunch time. It is very important that children are dressed for the winter weather. As a precaution,

we are also recommending that your child keep an extra change of clothing in his/her locker in case he/she should accidentally get wet during outside play.

Grades 2 and 5 students will start their swimming lessons at the Aquarena on January 20. Their lessons will run for 8 consecutive weeks. Permission slips will be sent home in early January.

School Council

Our next School Council meeting will take place on Tuesday, January 10 at 6:30 p.m.

Hour of Code

The Newfoundland and Labrador English School District recognizes the importance of computers, computer science and coding and we encourage all school communities to try coding. Not only is it fun, it encourages logical thinking and provides exciting career opportunities. During Computer Science Education Week (December 5-11), students at SME will participate in an Hour of Code on Dec. 9. More information is available at https://www.nlesd.ca/families/learntocode/index .jsp

Lockers

Prior to Christmas holidays, please encourage your child(ren) to bring home their personal items from their lockers. Some of the lockers are getting quite full and need to be cleaned out.

Yoga at St. Mary's! Starting on January 5 and running every Thursday evening at 7:30 pm, Tracey Mills (parent of Lucinda, Harrison and Zoë) will be teaching a beginner level yoga class in the gym. All parents, teachers, neighbours and friends of St. Mary's are welcome to attend! The cost of the class will be $12 per drop in or $60 for a six class pass. For more information please contact Tracey at [email protected].

We are going Skating!!!

Students in K-6 will be going skating at Twin Rinks on Wednesday, January 11 from 10:00-11:00. More details to follow in the upcoming weeks. Please note that CSA helmets are required and we have a limited number of skates and helmets available. If your child needs to borrow skates and/or a helmet, please send size information to your child’s teacher by Monday, Jan. 9. Volunteers are welcome to join us!

Important Dates: Thursday, December 1:  Report Card Conferences, dismissal @11:30  50/50 tickets on sale Friday, December 9:  Hour of Code Thursday, December 13:  Grades 4,5 & 6 Christmas Concert @ 6:30 Friday, December 16:  Christmas Giving donation deadline Tuesday, December 20:  Christmas Movie Night @ 6:00  50/50 prize draw Wednesday, December 21:  Recycling Blitz!  Christmas Sing-Along @11:00  Christmas Holidays - Dismissal at 12:30 Tuesday, January 3:  Classes resume - Day 5 (music day) Wednesday, January 11:  Skating @ 10:00 a.m.

Thursday, January 12:  Parent Kinderstart Information Session @ 7:00p.m. Wednesday, January 18:  Recycling Blitz! Friday, January 20:  1St Kinderstart Session (no classes for kindergarten students)

Thank you for supporting our Stuff a Sock Campaign.