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

I am so thankful that it is a short week next week due to the Non-Instructional day on Monday as the days are taking their toll on Team Awesome, as I am sure you have noticed. 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 the next two weeks are our first real full weeks, with plenty of activities, and I expect our little peeps to be tuckered by Thanksgiving weekend. Enjoy your extra day with Team Awesome!

• Monday, Sept. 23, is an NI Day so there is no school for the children.
• Don't forget to send library books back for exchange by Tuesday. Just take them out of the special library book bag and drop them (with the bag) into the labelled container inside our classroom door.
• Lunch orders for October came home and are due to the office by Sept. 25. A PAC Pizza lunch form also came home and is due back Sept 27 with pizza served Oct. 4.
• Our second fire drill is Friday, Sept. 27.
• Orange Shirt Day is Monday, Sept. 30.
• School photos are Tuesday, Oct. 1. We are usually first so we can keep neat and tidy for our pictures (but no guarantees).
• Order forms for BEST clothing came home this week but there was no due date on it. They are due Friday, Oct. 18. There will only be one order this year and no late orders can be accepted.
• We have begun sharing our Family Projects. Please feel free to send them back as they are finished.
• The BEST PAC has sent home our first fundraiser- coupon books. If you would like to buy one, just keep the one that was sent home with your child and return $10 in the envelope. If you would like more than one, there is an order form inside the envelope. If you do not want any of the coupon books, please return it to the office in the envelope it was sent home in. Thanking you in advance for your support.
• School supplies fees can be paid at the office. 
• Buddy Bags do not usually go home over long weekends (but sometimes I forget and schedule them).
• Please do not send toys from home to school. They often get lost or broken and then copious amounts of crying ensues. And more crying, followed by yet more crying.
• I often copy things on papers that were already copied on and discarded so if there is something on the back of your child's paper that seems odd that will be why.
• If your child seems to have misplaced a notice, I pin extras to our hallway bulletin board- help yourself or ask me for another copy.
• It is chilly when we go out for recess so please remember to send sweaters/ coats.
• Lost sweaters/ coats can be found in the Lost & Found bin by the parking lot doors.
• Thank you for donating to the Terry Fox Run. 

Go forth and Be Awesome!

​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 soon. 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!

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 (mostly) 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 will be due back on Tuesdays or put it into the Library bin beside the Home Box whenever you are finished. We visit the library next week.
• 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 Data Collection form came home this week. Please insure all information is filled in on the 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. Another will be coming for the videos shortly. 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. 13. 
• 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.
• We have our first whole school assembly on Monday, Sept. 16 in the afternoon.
• Sharing will begin Tuesday, Sept. 17. 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 Tuesday, Sept. 17. From 8:35-8:55 parents are welcome to get a coffee, 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 Friday, Sept. 20, or whenever you have finished it. Have fun!
• There will be a fire drill on Friday, Sept. 20 and Friday, Sept. 27. We will be talking about what will happen and practicing what to do so we are prepared. With last week's fire at Parkcrest Elem be ready for some possibly anxious little peeps.
• ​Monday, Sept. 23, is an NI day which means there is no school for students.
• Orange Shirt Day is Monday, Sept. 30.
• School photos are Tuesday, Oct. 1.

Go forth and Be Awesome!