Thursday 19 February 2015

Thursday, February 19th

TALENT SHOW
Hawthorne will be hosting its annual Talent Show on Thursday, March 12th at approximately 1:45pm.  We will confirm the start time once we have finalized our list of performers.  We will be hosting two rehearsals (Tuesday, March 3 and Wednesday, March 4) in preparation for what should be a fun event.  If your child is participating, please ensure that he/she is prepared with their proper equipment or music for each of the rehearsal times. We hope that your schedule allows you to attend.

HOMEWORK AT HAWTHORNE
We are planning to develop some homework guidelines for teachers, students and parents.  With this in mind,  our January 28th PAC meeting provided the venue for a discussion regarding homework.  There are many perspectives to be considered on this issue and we would like to provide all of our parents with an opportunity for input.  We are asking parents to complete the short survey found at this link.  Thank you to those families who have already responded.

SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING
"Research has shown that SEL is fundamental to children’s social and emotional development – their health, ethical development, citizenship, academic learning, and motivation to achieve.  Social and emotional education is a unifying concept for organizing and coordinating school-based programming that focuses on positive youth development, health promotion, prevention of problem behaviours and student engagement in learning.”   CASEL.org

Hawthorne has been focusing on "self-regulation" or "self-management" for a number of years now.  As adults, we’ve all been there. Tapping our foot repetitively during an important meeting to try and stay awake. Blasting the music in the car to keep from nodding off after a late night up with a sick child. Or, taking a warm bath to soothe frenzied nerves before going to bed. It’s called self-regulation — and most of us engage in these alerting or soothing activities several times a day. Turns out kids need to self-regulate, too. They just need a little extra help identifying when their engine is running too low — or too high — and some strategies for reaching an optimal level of arousal throughout the day.  At school we are using the sensory room to address some of our student needs and teachers are also incorporating strategies into their lessons.  Click here for more information on what parents can do at home to help their child with self-regulation.

PEANUT AWARE
Please note that Hawthorne is a "peanut aware" school.  We have a number of students with a life-threatening allergy to peanuts. As a result, a letter is sent home for those respective classrooms advising them of the safety concern and discouraging the use of peanut products.  We also closely monitor the contents of lunches and  clean surfaces where necessary.  For those students and families dealing with anaphylaxis it is important to know that while Hawthorne is "peanut aware" we cannot claim to be "peanut free" as we are not able to monitor every lunch or food item that arrives at the school.  Thank you for your attention to this issue.

KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION
Parents are reminded that we will be hosting kindergarten registration on Tuesday, February 24th from 9am-12pm.  The following documents must be provided:  original birth certificate, proof of residency (property taxes, purchase/rental agreement, care card, immunization record, parent proof of citizenship, medical and emergency contact information).  We will be making the registration package available to parents late next week so that the forms can be completed before being submitted on February 24th.  


LICE
Over the course of this school year you may have received a letter advising that lice has been found on a student in your child's classroom.   Within such a letter parents are provided with some information regarding lice checks and the procedures to follow if your child has lice.  For more information on lice you can visit www.fraserhealth.ca.  We would also like to thank Mrs. Barnes and Mrs. Pryce for their work in providing "lice checks" for classes.


MONTHLY VIDEO
On Friday, February 13th we hosted our monthly assembly and celebrated Canada Spirit Day in honour of the 50th anniversary for Canada's flag. You can view the latest video at this link: https://vimeo.com/120099840

GARDENING TIME
The warm temperatures of late have accelerated our gardening plans.  Ms. Bohmert has started to create a planting schedule for classes and we should be getting our hands dirty soon.  We are very thankful for her efforts and would also like to recognize Westcoast Seeds for a generous donation of seeds for our garden. With all of this work soon to be underway, we are asking that students avoid playing in and around the garden boxes before or after school.  Your assistance with this would be greatly appreciated.

IMPORTANT DATES

Friday, Feb. 20th
Professional Day
School Closed

Tuesday, Feb. 24th
Kindergarten Registration
9am-noon

Thursday, Feb. 26
PAC Meeting
6:30pm

Thursday, March 12th
Talent Show
1:45pm Gym

Friday, March 13th
Hot Lunch/Walk to School
Spring Break Begins
3pm

Monday, March 30th
School Re-Opens

Friday, April 3rd
Good Friday
School Closed

Monday, April 6th
Easter Monday
School Closed