​We are thankful that it is a short week next week for Team Awesome as the days are taking their toll. The children are beginning to tire but managing to mostly keep it together. A three day weekend will give them a chance to recuperate as we have plenty of activities planned and we expect our little peeps to be tuckered by Thanksgiving weekend. Enjoy your extra day with Team Awesome!

• A set of Frozen headphones still in the package but with no name on it was set on a table the first week of school and we don't know who it belongs to. If you suspect these may belong to your child please contact us so we can label them. Thanks!
• Please return your child's Take Home zipper bag to school with them each morning. Any items that need to be sent to the office can be returned in the bag.
• Please ensure that your child's name is on everything they bring to school- shoes, backpacks, coats, lunch bags, mittens etc.
• The Sharing activity for October will be sent to you next week. Look for it in zipper bags. Return it when it is finished please. We are still sharing September's All About Me posters.
• Thursday Sept. 23 was our first fire drill practice as a school. We are very proud of how well Team Awesome did. We will have five more throughout the year. Our next one is in October.
• We participated in the Terry Fox Run at BEST on Friday, Sept. 24. Thank you for sending a donation for a great cause.
• Lunch orders for October were due today, Sept. 24.
• ​Monday, Sept. 27 is an NI day which means there is no school for students.
• We will begin our library time next Tuesday with Ms. Kipp. Please return books in the library bag by the following Tuesday at the latest so your child can choose a new one.
• Wednesday, Sept. 29 BEST will recognize Orange Shirt Day. Wearing an orange shirt and promoting the slogan, Every Child Matters, is an affirmation of our commitment to raise awareness of the residential school experience.
• Thursday, Sept. 30 is our first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. There will be no school.
• Although we are not in cold/flu season yet, it is coming. If your child is exhibiting symptoms of any kind they must be kept home. A box of tissues for our learning spaces would be welcome.

Go forth and Rest!​ 

In celebration of the 41st anniversary of Terry's Marathon of Hope, Bert Edwards Science and Technology School will once again be celebrating Terry Fox, a Canadian hero. We will be doing things a little bit differently this year. Terry Fox activities will be on Friday, September 24, and vary by time according to grade. Team Awesome's Terry Fox activities will commence in our learning space at about 11:15 when we will learn about the Marathon of Hope and we will then move activities outside starting at about 11:30. Outside, most grade levels will participate in running around the whole school grounds although some of the intermediates will be running a longer distance along Schubert Dr. Consider sending your child in a Terry Fox t-shirt, if they have one, or their BEST swag.
We are proudly committed to raising much-needed funds for cancer research. Please consider supporting our efforts for this very worthwhile cause. If you would like to donate, we will be collecting Toonies for Terry so students can bring in a toonie or donation that will be collected by teachers. Thank you in advance.

By now we are 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 we wish we could have bottled the energy, excitement and joy generated by this activity (to be imbibed by us at a later date, probably around Xmas). We have since read the book again (hoping we would find another note but alas), and we will act it out with paper Chester puppets we will make. 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!

This week we will be talking about fire drill procedures and practicing what to do as the first of six fire drills will happen at the end of the week. The bells can be loud and might frighten the children but after the first two they are usually much calmer and things go smoother. Obviously, the first priority is to get the children safely out of the building but if they are screaming or upset it is hard for them to listen for directions. Supervising the front of the line, the middle of the line and the back of the line of excited/scared/crying children with only two of us (and sometimes one!), and still managing to get to our spot on the field without losing anyone can be quite a feat. So. We practice....and discuss....and practice some more. Wish us luck.

​Team Awesome did so well for their first partial week. We are 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? Nope. But it is an awesome start to our​ Kindergarten year.

• Please return your child's Take Home zipper bag to school with them each morning. Any items that need to be sent to the office can be returned in the bag.
• Please ensure that your child's name is on everything they bring to school- shoes, backpacks, coats, lunch bags, mittens etc.
• Sharing began this week and we learned a bit about a few of our new friends. Our first theme is All About Me. Please return the sheet given to you at your interview when it is done. If it has been misplaced, let us know so we can send another one.
• Thursday Sept. 23 is our first fire drill practice as a school. We will practice multiple times as a class before that day.
• We will participate in the Terry Fox Run at BEST on Friday, Sept. 24. If you would like, send a Toonie for Terry in the Take Home zipper bag.
• ​Monday, Sept. 27 is an NI day which means there is no school for students.
• We will begin our library time Tuesday, September 28 with Ms. Kipp. The children will each bring home one book >VERY exciting!<.
• Thursday, Sept. 30 is our first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. There will be no school.
• School supply fees are due into the office if you haven't already sent them. Check with Ms. Ladouceur for cost for each grade. As of Monday you can pay online. Check the BEST school website for info.
• Please send a water bottle with your child's name on it in their packs. They will be returned home each day for washing. Our fountains are off limits for drinking.
• Although we are not in cold/flu season yet, it is coming. If your child is exhibiting symptoms of any kind they must be kept home. A box of tissues for our learning spaces would be welcome.
• A reminder to send a pair of headphones for your child to use with the iPads. Please put them in a labelled ziplock bag to help keep them organized. Earbuds are often not the best choice.

Go forth and Lament the quick Summer!​               

​We will be inviting you via email to share an album of all the photos we have taken of the children on Google Photos every month (there will be quite a few). Keeping them sorted by month makes it easier when searching for a specific picture. Once we have downloaded them you will be able to peruse them at your leisure and download, save and/or print all of your favourites to your own computer without altering the album in any way. We will continue to add pictures of special events as well as make videos, which will also be shared with you in Google. Don't forget to share your favourites with family!