Weekly Update: June 19, 2015

Hello Robina Families!

Well here we are! Somehow we arrived ever so quickly at the last week of this school year. It has been a wonderful year getting to know the Robina community, parents, students and staff. A true test will be to see how many names I remember after the summer. :)

I would like to send best wishes out to all of our grade 4 students who will be heading to grade 5 at Riverview Middle School (or other places) next year!

The students all had a blast swimming this week and I took a number of photos. Rather than make the blog post overly long, I have downloaded them into this shared file for you to look at:

Swimming Pictures - Week of June 19

Our Last Student of Week Winners for the Year! Congratulations!

For our last Wrist Band Challenge Draw, we are able to give away 4 passes! Here are the lucky winners! Congratulations!

This week:

Wednesday, June 24: Fun Day

On the morning of  Fun Day Robina Baker is welcoming in our CAP (Community Attachment Purpose) team to encourage health and wellness. The children will get to participate in sessions such as: Drumfit, soccer, yoga adventures, mindful eating, drama games, art attack, and imagination station. When they are not at the pool swimming, the kids will be participating with their classmates in one of the wellness sessions listed above. We hope that this is a fun morning for all. The afternoon will include a number of different fun stations around our school yard for students to participate in! Parents you are welcome to come out and join us!

Thursday, June 25: Final Assembly at 8:45 am & School Supply Orders are Due if sending them into the school. You can order online throughout the summer. Just a reminder that all items on the list are required items, but the company broke the list into two parts in case you have some of these items at home already or would prefer to do some shopping with your child. All orders will arrive at the school at the end of August for the teachers to get organized in the classrooms. If you did not receive a supply list last week, please click on the applicable link below to download your copy. 

Grade 1 list

Grade 2 list

Grade 3 list

Grade 4 list

Friday, June 26: Last day of school! Report Cards go home!

Here are some flyers and links to flyers that we have been asked to include in our final update for the year!

Flyer #1 - Participation Fund Devon

Flyer #2 - Devon Day Camps

Flyer #3 - Devon - Got a Story to Tell

Flyer #4 - Go Away Meal Time Struggles

Have a fantastic summer!

Weekly Update: June 12, 2015

Hello Robina Families,

This will be our second last weekly update. Yikes! The clock is really ticking now! The students had a fabulous time at swimming last week. We are hoping for more great weather, so that the swimming this week will be equally as enjoyable! Thank you to the parent volunteers that came out to help with swimming! You can see some great photos on our Face Book page at this link: Face Book photos

This week at assembly we continued with our Perseverance theme. Ask your child about this fun perseverance fitness activity with Mr. Henderson. There were squeals of joy in the gym!

The students also had the opportunity for a school wide discussion on choosing our new school mascot. They were all encouraged to go home and brainstorm with their parents.

In each of the classrooms the teachers will be:

1. Brainstorming with the students: What character traits do we want to be known for at RBES?
2. After they have compiled a list of traits, the students will brainstorm animals or characters that portray these traits.
3. Each class will then vote and come up with their top 3 picks and send them to the mascot committee.
4. The mascot committee will meet and look at all of the ideas and suggestions and come up with the top 3 choices for the school.
5. A graphic rendition of each mascot will be done over the summer.
6. At our meet the Staff night on Thursday, September 17 we will all have a chance to vote on our new mascot. All students, parents and staff will each have one vote that day.
7. Our new mascot will be revealed the following week and then we will all have a chance to purchase school athletic wear with emblazoned with our new logo.

Congratulations once again to this week's Student of the Week winners: 

RBES PAINT NIGHT was a huge success! 100 people came out to support our school and paint some fabulous pictures! It was reported by many that a fun time was had by all. Thank you very much to the organizers of the event - Mrs. Watt and Mrs. Stewart along with their committee members!

YEARBOOK ORDERS:

This year we are trying out a fall yearbook. There are so many fabulous RBES memories in May and June that we wanted to record them all. If your child is finished at our school in June, please let us know and yearbooks will be forwarded to wherever they are!

Upcoming DATES:

June 15 - 19: Swimming all week!

PAC meeting: 4:00pm on Tuesday, June 16th

Reminder: This week's assembly is on Friday, June 19th at 12:45 to accommodate the swimming schedule.

Fun Day is coming up on Wednesday, June 24th!

Final Assembly of the year is on Thursday, June 25th!

Report Cards for Grades 1-4 will be handed out on the last day of school: Friday, June 26th.

CLASS LISTS AND SCHOOL SUPPLIES:

Class lists are currently being worked on. Please see the document below that outlines the process for class lists.

If this is too small to read, please click on this link to read it in google drive: Class List Development Guidelines

School Supplies:

As you know for the past few years, we have been fortunate enough to have fundraisers in the spring to purchase school supplies. With the state of uncertainty with the education budget and the change in government, our late start with fundraising this year and the actual cost of supplies, this is unfortunately something that we can not sustain this year. Even though there was fundraising, for the past two years, the school has picked up the cost of the short fall of the fundraiser to make this initiative happen. After many discussions over the past several months at our school council meetings we have come up with an alternate plan for supplies this year.

We are working with the same company that we purchased school supplies from to create prepackaged supplies for parents to purchase. For those of you that don't want the hassle of shopping for supplies, this will be a one stop option for you. The packages will be much cheaper than what is offered in the stores if supplies were purchased individually. This still offers us the advantage of having all the same supplies for the students in the classes and ensures that quality supplies are provided for your children.

I was hoping to have this information out earlier last week, but our supplier needed until Monday, June 15 to get the price lists back to us. We will send out a separate email as soon as we receive the lists with more detailed information.

We realize this is quite a change and we hope this is something we can revisit next year and find a more sustainable way to have free supplies for all students. In the meantime, we hope that the convenience of purchasing quality supply packages for a low price will offer you an option that doesn't force you out into busy stores while trying to figure out exactly what to buy.

Thank you in advance for understanding the difficulty of making this decision. If you have any questions at all, please give me a call.

That is all for this week!

Weekly Update: June 5, 2015

Hello Robina Families,

I hope you all have been able to take advantage of the beautiful weather this weekend. I have just a quick update this week with some important date reminders for you!

First off THANK YOU so much to all the parent volunteers that came out for field trips or the Track Meet this past week. Your help was very much appreciated!

Special thanks also goes out to Mr. Henderson for all his work with our RBES track students, along with Mr. Beck and Mrs. Milson who didn't miss many practices and their extra hands were much appreciated with our large numbers. The students all had a wonderful time at the Track Meet and there are a number of fabulous pictures on our Face Book page. You can click the following link to check them out: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Robina-Baker-Elementary-School/207898802567459?sk=photos_stream

CONGRATULATIONS to this week's Student of the Week winners and Wrist Band Challenge winners!

ALL VOLUNTEERS - PLEASE JOIN US!

Don't Forget: Swimming is this week and next! Permission forms need to be done online and students need to bring their swimsuits, towels and goggles (optional).

There are a number of field trips coming up. Please make sure you fill out the online permission forms prior to the trip. If you are wondering what each grade is doing, please have a look at the school calendar at this link: http://rbesnews.blogspot.ca/p/calendar.html

LIBRARY BOOKS ARE ALL PAST DUE! IF YOU FIND ANY BOOKS AT HOME, PLEASE SEND THEM TO SCHOOL!

Upcoming Dates:

Paint Night is sold out! The event is this Friday, June 12th.

PAC meeting: 4:00pm on Tuesday, June 16th

Fun Day is coming up on Wednesday, June 24th!

Final Assembly of the year is on Thursday, June 25th!

Report Cards for Grades 1-4 will be handed out on the last day of school: Friday, June 26th.

End of the year information for class lists and school supplies will come out in a separate blog post later this week.

Have a great week,

Weekly Update: May 29, 2015

Hello Robina Families,

As the end of the school year draws nearer, the days seem to get busier and busier. This update is loaded with lots of pictures and is a long one! You might want to get comfy and grab your favourite morning beverage while you give this a read! This past week was filled with Bike Safety activities every day. A big thank you to all of the parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends and neighbours who helped out by dropping off bikes. There were still about 40 bikes left in the gym at the end of the day on Friday, so please ensure those get picked up as we will have to move them to the outside bike racks. Thank You Mr. Henderson for doing a fabulous job with our Bike Safety program this week!

A FEW BIKE SAFETY PICTURES:

BGRS TRACK MEET - Thursday, June 4

We have 85 students attending the track meet on Thursday, June 4. Parent volunteers are needed to help supervise on track meet day. If you are able to help out, please fill out the form at this link: http://goo.gl/forms/nCVpG72Lii Thank you in advance! Your help is much appreciated. **AS WELL, a quick reminder to get online permission forms and the $3 fee paid.

GRADE 4 DRAMA - Serenade to Swine

Our Grade 4s did a fabulous job on their drama presentation. Their months of hard work with Mrs. Stanski and Mrs. Fleming really paid off.

ASSEMBLY Update

We finished off our theme of self-discipline this month and will be moving on to the theme of PERSEVERANCE for the month of June.

Our last Golden Garbage Can winners of the year were both grade 4 classes. CONGRATULATIONS! Thank you Miss Betty for offering the Golden Garbage Can award and all of your hard work!

CONGRATULATIONS TO THIS WEEK'S STUDENT OF THE WEEK WINNERS!

Wrist Band Challenge Winners: Hunter in 3R and Kaylee in 3R

Pizza with the Principal Winners: Sophie - 1L; Savannah - 3R; Rohan - 3R and Gage - 2MT

** 3R students were super LUCKY this week!

SPORTS DAY

The students and staff all showed their school spirit and got their GAME ON by celebrating sports day! Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy! Special thanks to Mrs. Suter for organizing a staff uniform!

IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES & INFORMATION

June 1-5: all week - Dental Flouride for K-2 students

June 2: Pizza with the Principal

June 3: EARLY DISMISSAL & Yoga

June 4: BGRS Track Meet at Riverview - Events start at 9:45

June 8 - 19: Swimming for RBES students (every morning - both weeks)

HUGE Congratulations are being sent out to Mrs. Down who has announced her Retirement this week. Mrs. Down has a Music and an Education degree as well as a Graduate diploma in Music from New England Conservatory (Boston) and Liszt Academy (Budapest). She has taught for a total of 41 years. She is planning to spend her retirement traveling as well as pursuing her interest in art, music and yarn crafts. She also plans to volunteer in schools and offer her services as a substitute! We wish you nothing but the BEST Mrs. Down as you enter this new chapter in your life! 

Three things every parent and teacher should know about children’s vision 

By: Dr. Kevin Hesterman

As parents and teachers, you want to ensure you are setting up your children and students for success in every possible way. You make sure they brush their teeth, learn their ABCs and do their homework. It’s just as important that you ensure they have healthy eyes and can see clearly.

Here are three important things that you should know about children’s vision:

1.    20/20 isn’t everything. Sight tests and school screenings can determine if children have 20/20 vision, but they do not check eye health or measure any other vision skills needed for learning such as eye coordination, peripheral awareness and eye/hand coordination. While these screenings are useful tools, they should not be used as a substitute for an annual comprehensive eye exam by a Doctor of Optometry.

2.    Learning is connected to vision. A school-age child’s eyes are constantly in use in the classroom and at play. If their visual skills are lacking or impaired, your child will need to work harder which may result in learning challenges, headaches or fatigue. Many children who are diagnosed with learning or behavioural disabilities actually suffer from vision problems.

3.    You may not know something is wrong. Many parents and teachers think that they would know if their children or students are having vision challenges, but that isn’t always the case. Children often don’t realize anything is wrong – they assume everyone sees the way they do. Also, many eye diseases go undetected by parents and teachers because they have no symptoms. An eye exam is often the only way to catch those conditions before it’s too late.

Alberta Health Care covers the cost of annual eye exams for children until they turn 19. Kindergarten students can also get a free pair of eyeglasses through the Eye See…Eye Learn® program. Click here to learn how Eye See…Eye Learn® works for parents, teachers and students.

Whew! If you made it all the way to the end of this post . . . thank you for staying with me!

Until next week,