Thank you so much for making the time to stop in for a bit on Wednesday morning for our school Meet & Greet. Team Awesome loved having you in our classroom and showing you around. 

​Thursdays will be our library day and the children were very excited for our first visit last week. They met Mrs. Leflufy, our librarian, and had a look around the library. Mrs. Leflufy read us a book about 10 crunchy carrots and then we listened to the song by Charlotte Diamond and played a game with the felt carrots. She also showed us how to use our Spot Cards to mark our place when we remove a book from the shelf and then we chose a book and signed it out on the computer. We will be bringing a new book home every week as long as we have returned the book we borrowed the previous week. If the book becomes lost or damaged, it will have to be paid for before another book can be signed out. We put our books in the special library book bags to keep them neat and clean for the trip back and forth between school and home. Returned library books can be taken out of their bags and put, with the bag, in the Library bin beside our door. We loved going to the library!

By now I am sure you have heard plenty of garbled stories about the book The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn, which we read last Friday morning. To our surprise there was a note at the end of the book from Chester Raccoon inviting us to find him somewhere in the school. So off we went, following the clues, meeting new people and seeing new places in the school. We were sad not to catch Chester as we were so certain that we would, but he did leave us each a heart for our hand and some apples before returning to the book. Boy, do I wish I could have bottled the energy, excitement and joy generated by this activity (to be imbibed by me at a later date, probably around Xmas). We have since read the book twice more (hoping we would find another note but alas), and we will act it out with paper Chester puppets we will make this week. We have also learned to sign 'I love you' so if your child has been making punk rocker 'devil' finger signs at you they are actually trying to show you how much you are loved. We love Chester Raccoon!

It never fails to surprise me how empathetic children are. When do we lose some of that? This week we participated in the Terry Fox Run but before that happened, I wanted the children to know what and who they were running for. We watched a short video about Terry Fox but the children had more questions and had missed some of the crucial information I wanted them to know so we watched a longer one. Of course we are all familiar with Terry's story but for Team Awesome it was new. And they were rapt watching him run with one leg and they had so many questions. We discussed his grit and determination and perseverance in the face of overwhelming adversity and how we need to be like Terry when faced with something that seems just as difficult as running a marathon every day, whether it is writing our name or zipping up our coat. And they were sad, so sad, that Terry only had one leg and that after everything that happened he got sick and died. And so we ran. And it felt hard. But not as hard as it was for Terry. 

​Team Awesome did well for their first partial week. I am so proud of them! Please give them kudos at home for their good listening ears, helping hands and inside voices. Sometimes applying these concepts immediately is difficult for little peeps but Team Awesome did a great job. We have talked every day about being a team and working together and taking care of our school family just as we would our home family and Team Awesome worked very hard on doing all those things this week. Does that mean we won't revisit those ideas almost daily and need reminders for the rest of the year? Nope. But it is an awesome start to their Kindergarten year.

• Don't forget to send the Take Home folders back each morning and your child will put it in the Home Box on their way in.
• Library books are due back on Thursdays or put it into the Library bin beside the Home Box whenever you are finished.
• School supply fees are due into the office. Thank you.
• If you would like to send a water bottle with your child's name on it to leave on the back counter, you are welcome to. Remember to take them home occasionally to wash, especially after an illness. We do have a fountain in our sink but it is difficult to work.
• Although we are not in cold season yet, it is coming (we have had sniffles already). If you have already sent a box or two of tissues for our classroom, thank you.
• I know I said we would be done signing papers for awhile at your interview but apparently I lied. A Student Verification form came home this week. Please insure all information is correct on the Student Verification form and correct anything that needs fixing and return it to me or to the office. Thank you.
• I sent the 'share' email for the Google photos this week so let me know if you didn't get one. Actually, two- one for the videos and one for the photos. It was difficult to decipher some of the email addresses and I might have made some mistakes. If there were two addresses I sent it to both to be sure you received at least one.
• Scholastic book orders were due today, Friday, Sept. 15. 
• The first Buddy Bags went home today with three children. Please return them on Monday. There are instructions inside the front cover of the journal. Check the calendar for your child's weekend.
• Sharing will begin Monday, Sept. 18. Check the calendar for your child's day. Please refrain from sending toys to share.
• BEST will be hosting a Community Meet & Greet for parents and families the morning of Wednesday, Sept. 20. From 8:35-8:55 parents are welcome to come in with their children, see their classroom/ locker/ desk etc and meet their teacher.
• The September Family Project went home this week and is due Monday, Sept. 25, or whenever you have finished it. Have fun!
• There will be a fire drill on Thursday, Sept. 21 and Friday, Sept. 29. We will be talking about what will happen and practicing what to do so we are prepared. 
• ​Friday, Sept. 22, is an NI day which means there is no school for students.
• School photos are Thursday, Sept. 28.

Go forth and Be Awesome!

​The BEST PAC has sent home our first fundraiser of the year today- coupon books- but I noticed there were no instructions with the envelope, just an order form. If you would like to buy a book of coupons keep the one that was sent home with your child and return $10 in the envelope. If you would like more than one booklet, there is an order form inside the envelope to fill in and return to the office by the due date. The extra books will be delivered to you at a later date. If you do not want any of the coupon books, please return the book sent home today to the office in the envelope it was given in by the due date. If you have any questions, please call the office (250-376-2205). Thanking you in advance for your support of BEST and our students.