January 9, 2014

WELCOME BACK

We hope that you all had an enjoyable break filled with great memories shared with family and friends. The new year stands to be a busy one for us at Hawthorne and we are excited about what lies ahead.

TRAFFIC CIRCLE

Please note that community volunteers will be on site (bright yellow jackets) for a number of weeks working in concert with Delta Police's traffic safety program.  They will be monitoring parking/driving habits and issuing warning tickets to any traffic violators.  With this in mind,  please consider the following traffic guidelines.

 DROP-OFF / PICK-UP RULES IN SCHOOL DRIVEWAY:

• The curved lane in front of the school has been designated for "drop-off and pick-up" only.  This is a FIRE LANE and there is NO PARKING ALLOWED, however, we are allowing only drop-off, pick-up and exiting.  Do not leave your vehicle unattended, including Daycare providers
• Please note that the elevated area and the end of the roundabout is RESERVED for Daycare Providers
• Enter the “Drop-off – Pick- up” lane and proceed forward as far as possible to the next car ahead so that other cars can enter the lane
• Do not leave your vehicle (NO PARKING), as this blocks others from exiting
• Keep your place in the line up. Do not cut in front of another vehicle
• Please do not idle your car
• When driving, please do not use your cell phone
• Follow the correct flow of traffic indicated by the arrows on the road
• Children should use the passenger side car doors that open to the sidewalk

Our parking lot is restricted to staff for 30 minutes before and after school. The existing parking stalls are needed for school staff as well as district staff who arrive and leave our school at different times throughout the day. If possible, please consider having your child(ren) walk to school or walk to school with them. We will continue to participate in initiatives and events that promote walking to school, teach environmental responsibility and reduce car dependency.  Please watch for announcements regarding our next “Walk to School” event. 

REVERSE LUNCH

We will continue to host "reverse lunches" on Fridays for the foreseeable future.  The early reviews have been positive and we'd like to gather more information before determining whether to maintain, expand or eliminate this initiative.

SCHOOL PLANNING COUNCIL

Hawthorne is in need of three parents who would be willing to sit on the School Planning Council (SPC) for 2014.  These councils were created by the Ministry of Education to reflect the importance of parental involvement in schools.  Hawthorne's SPC has been dormant for two years and we are hoping to re-establish its presence in our school community.  School planning councils are advisory bodies. Their major responsibility is to develop, monitor and review school plans for student achievement in consultation with the school community.  These school plans are connected to district and ministry initiatives. For more information on SPC's you can visit the following link: http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/spc/guide.htm.

If you are interested in joining Mr. Carruthers on the SPC, your work will consist of 2-3 meetings and perhaps some home reading over the next 5 months.  Please contact Mr. Carruthers at the office (mcarruthers@deltasd.bc.ca) if you would like to put your name forward.  We may have to hold an election at our next PAC meeting if we have more that three interested parties.  Thank you in advance for considering this opportunity.

JESSIE MILLER / INTERNET AWARENESS

Jessie Miller is an expert on Social Media (www.mediatedreality.com) who will be presenting for parents at Genesis Theatre on Wednesday, January 22nd at  7pm.  This presentation is being coordinated by Delta Senior Secondary for all Ladner schools and Hawthorne has 40 tickets to distribute.  Please contact Mr. Carruthers (mcarruthers@deltasd.bc.ca) if you would like to attend this event.

PINGUARD/FLOOR HOCKEY

Over the next few weeks, most of our upper intermediate students will be participating in Floor Hockey (grade 7) or Pinguard tournaments (Grade 6).  These experiences are unique to Ladner schools and provide our students with another opportunity to work together as well as meet their peers in the community.  The tourney details are as follows:

3pm     Tuesday, January 14th at      Delta Christian        Grade 7 Girls Floor Hockey

3pm     Thursday, January 16th at     Delta Christian        Grade 7 Boys Floor Hockey

3pm     Tuesday, January 21st at    Sacred Heart     Grade 6 Girls Pinguard

3pm     Thursday, January 23rd at  Sacred Heart     Grade 6 Boys Pinguard

Special thanks to our coaches,  Mrs. Mack, Mrs. Robinson and Mr. Granum for their support of these tournaments.  We hope that parents can make plans to attend and cheer on Hawthorne's teams.  Go Hawks!

ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS CHALLENGE

This week every student at Hawthorne was invited to participate in Hawthorne's first Rock, Paper, Scissors challenge.   We had well over 250 students engaged in this activity after hosting separate qualifying rounds for  intermediate and primary students.  The contestants competed under the watchful eye of our referees: Mr. Bourgeois, Mrs. Robinson, Mrs. Holliday,  Mrs. Mack, Mr. Carruthers, Mrs. Emigh and  Ms. Nixon. The following students qualified for our finals at tomorrow's (Jan. 10th) 11am assembly:

Primary Finalists:  Mackenzie Claybo, Aidan Lockhart, Dimitri Boufeas, Jalen De Dios

Intermediate Finalists:  Lukas Zhanel, Madison Steele, Mckenzie Gray, Josun Saxelby

BOOK FAIR
Mrs. Ratzlaff will once again be hosting a Book Fair in our library during Hawthorne's Student-Led Conference on February 19th and 20th.   Proceeds will support the purchase of new library resources.  Volunteers are needed and parents are asked to contact Mrs. Ratzlaff (jratzlaff@deltasd.bc.ca) if you are able to help out.  Thanks in advance for your consideration.

KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION
Please note that kindergarten registration at Hawthorne will be held on Friday, February 28th from 9am-Noon.  More details to follow in our next blog post.

IMPORTANT DATES

Friday, January 10
Monthly Assembly
11am Gymnasium

Friday, January 24th
Walk to School Day

Friday, January 31st
Hot Lunch Day