Weekly Update: October 24, 2014

Hello Robina Families,

I hope that you are all having a fabulous weekend and are keeping warm. Looks like a bit of cold weather is headed our way. Don't forget to label those touques and mitts when you send them with your children to school. 

Here is an update of our week:

I had the chance to sit in a few classrooms and see some great lessons. I am so pleased with all the things the children are learning. I got to see some amazing things happening using Daily 5 as part of the language arts program along with some very fun Halloween art. Our grade 3 students finished their SLA testing (for more information on these assessments, click here) and I saw some really great projects on the chrome books. Please be sure to check out your child's classroom blog to see what your child is learning each week. The classroom blogs are all listed on our main website under the STAFF/CLASSROOM BLOGS tab.

Besides all the great learning that was happening, a number of students are taking part in the Merriott Fitness activities during the lunch hour on Wednesdays and all of the classes had the opportunity to do yoga in one of their physed classes. The grade 3FT class had a fabulous trip to the Oil Kings game and everyone did a fabulous job decorating the school for Halloween.

Some of you might have noticed that our flag was at half mast for a couple of days. This was in respect for the two Canadian soldiers that lost their lives this past week. It is important to honor those that lose their lives while serving our country. On that note, our Remembrance Day ceremony is on November 6th  at 11:00 am this year.  

At our weekly assembly we continued to work on the theme of being thankful and our kindergarten and grade 1 students got to enjoy a special story with Mrs. Becker. We had a special guest at the start of the assembly who came out to tell us about Operation Christmas Child. Gil gave us a very informative presentation. Boxes will be coming home soon and details are to follow.

Grade 1K and 3FT did a joint song at the assembly on being thankful. We were very thankful that they did it twice for us and they did a wonderful job both times.

I am so proud of how much our students have grown in our assemblies so far this year. They are truly working hard to be a part of a wonderful caring community. Here is a picture of this week's Students of the Week. Next week, all the names from the month of October will go into a draw and four lucky students will be drawn to have pizza with the principal on Tuesday of the following week. A huge thank you goes out to Florida Pizza for sponsoring Pizza with the Principal for this school year.

Our first family movie night was a huge success and 42 families were able to come out to enjoy the LEGO movie. Thank you so much to the parent council for organizing this event. They are hoping to host another movie night in December. Stay tuned for more information.

Upcoming Items to Note:

Halloween Reminder:

Our students will have the opportunity to dress up all day for Halloween this year! Classroom teachers will be doing activities in their classroom and the afternoon is dedicated to parties. There will also be a costume parade in the gym at 1:00 pm. All parents and younger siblings are invited to attend and come in costume.

Parent Meetings: 

Our teachers would like to meet with all of you! Those meetings are available to book online now at http://rbes.schoolappointments.com/. Instructions to book your appointment are very similar to making a hot lunch order and can be found on our school website under the PARENT tab at this link. There will be one common meeting night on Wednesday, November 5th for those families with more than one child. Each teacher has made other various time slots available as well. If none of the available times work for you, please contact your child's teacher to make alternate arrangements. The purpose of the meetings are to share information, set goals if needed and address any potential little problems before the reporting period. We are looking at an updated and consistent report card format for grades 1-4. Details for our new report cards and reporting process will be made available at the parent meetings.

LifeTouch Reminder:
Forms and payment are due back on Wednesday, October 29th. Retakes will be coming up shortly on November 5th for those who are unhappy with their photo or who were away.

School Fee Reminder:
Thank you to all that have already paid their fees. Those who haven't, this is a friendly reminder to please add that to your to do lists. Having computer issues? There is a parent computer station in the office for your use. Hopefully this will help you access all the online programs you need to this year. If you need any help with any of the programs or online features, please talk to Mrs. Horrocks in the office.

Thanks for another great week!

Weekly Update: October 17, 2014

Hello Parents / Guardians:

Even though it was a short week, it was still a busy one. Congratulations to everyone who participated in the Merriott Turkey Chase and Yeti Hunt.  Our school had 32 athletes participate and raised in excess of $750 for the Stollery Childrens Hospital. Our Yeti Hunt team finished tied for third place and was featured in the Leduc Pipestone Flyer’s article on The Turkey Chase.

Cross Country team members will run in the Autumn Classic at Hawrelak Park in Edmonton by 11:25AM on Saturday, Oct 18. Good Luck to all runners!

All students have a minimum of 30 minutes of physical activity per day. This includes Healthy Hearts which is now also a part of our daily schedule from 1:45 - 2:00. Our students also have Merriott movement literacy sessions once per week. On Wednesday’s they all have the opportunity to participate in Fitness for Fun during the lunch hour. This is a program that all students can participate in.

Some Important Deadlines and Upcoming Events for October:

Want to stay up to date on when things are happening in the school? Bookmark the calendar on our website to check out the almost daily updates.

Deadline for Fruit Sales - Friday, October 24

Deadline for Hot Lunch Orders - Friday, October 24

Family Movie Night Fundraiser - Friday, October 24 - Click on this link on our school website for more information and details.

Ticket Sales for Movie Night

Tickets on sale from October 17 - October 24

Mornings 8:15 - 8:45 and Lunch 12-1 pm

NED Merchandise Sales

NED gear will be available for purchase for a week after the show.  Members of our Student Leadership Team will be selling the products October 20 – 24 at lunch from 12:00 to 12:20 pm.

Halloween:

Our students will have the opportunity to dress up all day for Halloween this year! Classroom teachers will be doing activities in their classroom and the afternoon is dedicated to parties. There will also be a costume parade in the gym at 1:00 pm. All parents and younger siblings are invited to attend and come in costume.

Parent Meetings: 

Information will be coming out shortly to book a meeting with your child's teacher to get up to date information on your child's progress. This is an opportunity to have input in to your child's education. Information will be coming home soon on how to book those appointments as well as our new reporting format.


Reminders:

Lost and Found:

Our Lost and Found is filling up fast. Please remind your child to check there as soon as possible after losing something. Parents please feel free to check regularly as well - the bin is located in the hallway outside of the office. The unclaimed items get donated about every 6 weeks.

Student Absences:
Please remember to contact the office when your child will be away. We are a very busy office and each saved phone call really helps with our efficiency. Thank you in advance for your help.

Assemblies:

The students did some really great work on our Thankful Tree in the assembly last week and really enjoyed the NED show this week. Enjoy some pictures below as well as our first group for our student of the week.

Have a fabulous week,

Weekly Update: October 10, 2014

Hello Robina Baker Families,​

I am excited to finally have a few extra minutes to establish a weekly communication page for you on our website. So much has happened since the start of the school year that it is hard to believe that September has come and gone and we are headed into Thanksgiving weekend. First of all I would like to thank everyone for their patience as we worked through our growing pains as a new team and through new pilots and initiatives. It was a lot of change for everyone and our staff has worked many long hours to ensure that the school days are seamless for the students. Increased enrolment, an added ECS class, new timetables, learning new online field trip forms, hiring an assistant principal and 3 new support staff, new students arriving daily, a shortage of desks, training and learning new Black Gold emergency protocol along with several other challenges has had us all on our toes for awhile. Our daily routines are now established, the new timetables are finalized and all new staff will be in place by next Wednesday, so it finally feels like we are settling in.

I realize my communication has been limited to some direct emails for specific grade groups as well as face book postings, but now you should see a distinct change in communication from the office. There will be a weekly posting on the website, along with reminders and emergent items on face book. Our calendar is updated daily, so please check regularly for upcoming events.

I am super excited to be working with Mrs. Mullen and soon Mr. Henderson on our weekly character education assemblies. There is a theme for each month that we will work on with all of the students. They will have a chance to do many different activities for each theme and each class will have the opportunity to perform at one of the monthly assemblies. We are currently finalizing that schedule and it will be posted on the calendar and reminders will be sent home prior to those mini performances. We are also doing a student of the week program. Each class from K-4 will choose one student from their class to be the student of the week. Students will be presented with a certificate and acknowledged at each weekly assembly. Teachers will notify parents earlier in the week if your child is receiving the student of the week certificate. At the end of each month there will be a draw for all the student of the week children for that month and four lucky students will win pizza with the principal the following week. Miss Betty, our head custodian, has also started a golden garbage can award. The students help to tidy their desk area before they leave at the end of each day and the class who is the cleanest or shows the most improvement will win the golden garbage can award for that month. Miss Betty bakes cupcakes for the students and they receive those after the assembly. Parents are welcome at all assemblies. The first 15 minutes of each assembly is where announcements and student of the week celebrations happen and then we move on to our monthly theme. You are welcome to stay for part or the whole assembly. Last month we worked on the theme of RESPECT which will carry on throughout the whole year and this month we are working on the theme of being THANKFUL.. Once again, please check our calendar for updates on the assemblies.  NEXT WEEK, Friday, October, 17 there will be NO morning assembly as we have a special assembly presentation in the afternoon. The NED show is coming to RBES.

NED is a character building presentation that incorporates yo yo tricks. The students will learn some great ways to build their character and the week following the NED show they will have the chance to buy a yo yo to try some of the tricks that NED teaches them how to do. For more information, please check out this link:

 http://www.thenedshow.com/parents.html

All parents are welcome to attend as well as younger siblings.

Our staff spent the time together yesterday after school to do some training and learn the new emergency response protocols that Black Gold is establishing in all schools across the district. A couple of us have had extensive training and the rest of the team had the opportunity to be trained, ask questions and give feedback on the new system. We will have our first fire drill next week and I will update you very soon on some terms that your children may come home with. If you are interested in checking out the emergency protocol that we are using, you can find more information at:
http://www.hour-zero.com/ 

I would like to end with a reminder to all that next week is a short week. Monday is a holiday and Tuesday is a PD day. Our staff will be doing some positive behavior support training in the morning and working on reading strategies in the afternoon.

Best wishes to you and your families for a Happy Thanksgiving Weekend. I look forward to getting to know everyone this year and working with you and your children.

Warmest Regards,