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LINDEN MEADOWS

NEWS

In This Issue

Dates to Remember 2

Parent Council 3

Tri Conferences 3

Parking Guidelines 4

Grade 8 Farewell 5

Report Cards 5

School Bus News 5

Music Notes & Band News 6

Super Lunch 7

Phys. Ed News 8

Check it out @ the Library 9

Lost & Found 9

Building Communities 10

Kindergarten Here We Come1 11

Community Events 12-14

Keep Calm and Read Canadian was our theme of I Love to Read month! One of the challenges

was for each grade level to read 150 books by a Canadian author and write on a maple leaf to fill

our UNESCO tree at the front of the school. It was very exciting to watch the 1500 leaves bloom

and to finally see the bright red, fullness of the tree from the voracious readers at LM! We had

numerous Canadian and Manitoba authors reading to students and culminated our month with

another assembly where we read as a school body in the gym.

In keeping with our Canadian theme, Pembina Trails School Division has a celebration coming up

on May 24th at the Investor’s Field. We are joining together as a division, students and staff, to

honor the founding of Canada as a Nation in our Canada 150 Celebration. Among the events

planned are individual school floats, a race along the Trans Canada Trail, singing, dancing and

playing as a collective with our fellow peers at all of the schools across the division. We are hop-

ing for some Canadian celebrities to make appearances as well. It is a wonderful opportunity for

us to learn and to share our diversity and uniqueness as a community.

Last week our staff leadership team spent the day immersed in learning together with Dr. Yong

Zhao. Dr. Zhao talked about how everyone is good at something, but no one is good at everything

and how we need to develop diversity of talents with our students. We want everyone to become

great in their own way. He said, talent without effort does not produces greatness- 10,000 hours is

necessary for someone to be good at something. That is very different from one thing done

10,000 times!! Think about our students….12 years is about 10,000 hours. The teaching this day

was provocative and had us, as teachers, really thinking about how to challenge ourselves to

more appropriately meet the needs of our students as we expand our thinking about 21st century

learning.

This month we are busy with spirit week activities as well as writing another set of report cards for

each child. There are also numerous field trips and performances with the symphony. Parents are

welcome to join us at 6:30 on March 15th, for a presentation on Family Life and Sexuality, which

is specific to content areas taught in health in grades 5 and 7. Finally, for a preview of what our

new website may look like, check out the new Pembina Trails School Division website which was

unveiled last week.

On a final note, we are thrilled to report that in 2017 we will be offering a second before and after

school child care program at Linden Meadows. The program, called Right at School, is based in

the United States and will be available at 11 schools in Pembina Trails, and this includes Linden

Meadows. This is the first program of its kind in Canada and will offer engaging and meaningful

enrichment activities. More details will be shared at our upcoming Parent Advisory Council meet-

ing on March 8 at 7 p.m.

“Every child has to become great and unique in their own way; it is our job (as teachers) to figure

out how to help them do that.” Dr. Yong Zhao.

ADMINISTRATIVE MESSAGE FOR MARCH 2017 March 2017

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Dates to Remember

March 17 Metro Common Day—No Classes

March 27— 31 Spring Break

April 14 Good Friday—No Classes

April 21 Metro Common Day—No Classes

April 24 Kindergarten Stay and Play

May 22 Victoria Day—No Classes

May 24 Canada 150 Celebration Investors Group Field

June 7 Band Concert

June 13—15 Grade 7 & 8 Exams

June 16 Divisional Common Day—No Classes

June 22 Carnival

June 27 Grade 8 Farewell

June 30 Last Day of School

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Tri-Conferences

Thank you to all parents for supporting and participating in our second set of

Tri-Conferences in February. It was wonderful to see students taking pride and

ownership in sharing their achievements to date, celebrating, and setting goals for

the upcoming months.

Parent Council Reminder

Our next meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 8th at 7:00 pm in the school library.

All are welcome to attend.

MOVIE NIGHT

Unfortunately, we are unable to have a pre-release movie for our March 9 event, so we are going to postpone the event until we can get one.

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Staggered Pick up Times (if possible) - If grades K-4 families could pick up between 3:30 and 3:40,

and grades 5-8 families could pick up at 3:40, it would help to ease the congestion in the loop and on

Lindenwood Drive East.

Thank you so much for your cooperation.

Please try to keep in mind that the front of the school is an idle free zone. Also a

reminder that walking to school is a great option to help support some of the traffic

challenges we are facing.

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Grade 8 Farewell Dinner and Dance

We ask grade eight families to “save the date” for our Farewell Ceremony booked Tuesday

June 27th

at Linden Meadows School.

With the rising cost of outside venues, our students and staff have decided to stay local and

have our ceremony at the school. Students will be deciding on a fun event as a group for

another date in June.

Important to know is the ceremony will be from 6:00-7:00 in the main gym, followed by a

meet and greet with appetizers from 7:00-8:00 PM. The evening then continues with a stu-

dent dance in the mini-gym from 8:00-10:00 PM for students and staff. Please mark your

calendars and look for more details to be shared in the month of May.

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March Report Card

Teachers will use the upcoming Metro Winnipeg common in-service day on March 17th to write your

child’s second report card of the school year. Report cards will come home to parents on April 6th,

focusing on individual 2nd

term successes and outlining 3rd

term goals. With the October tri-conference, the

December report card, the February tri-conference, this March report card, our plan follows our commitment to

formally communicate student achievement five times during the school year. Number 5 will be with the end

of June report card!

Please, throughout March, April, May and June continue to contact your child’s teachers with any questions

or information you have in regards to your child/children’s progress. We will make the same commitment re-

garding sharing important information with you.

School Bus News

Please note that eligible (no fee) bussing ends upon the completion of grade 6 . The Division offers a seat sale option

only for grade 7 and 8 students living in Linden Ridge, with limited availability serving the following schools: Arthur A.

Leach, HGI, Laidlaw, Linden Meadows, Viscount Alexander and Van Wallegham. Seat sale applications are available at

the school office. Please complete and return with payment to the school. Applications must be received by June. Written

notification will be mailed to your home address during July.

Music Notes

Congratulations to the Grade 3-5 Choir on their Gold medal performance at the Winnipeg Music Festival. Every-one worked so hard with extra practices and missing other clubs to make the music the best it could be!

The Grade 5’s will go to see the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in concert on March 16th! Our goal is to learn more about Canadian music and will even hear a piece of new music composed just for this concert series.

The Symphony Choir will be performing with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra on March 15 th. Our dress rehearsal will be on March 14th. This will be very exciting for everyone involved. Once in a lifetime opportunity for some!

The Grade 2’s and 2/3 Class will be putting a musical called “HATS” on Wednesday, April 26th in the afternoon. Please mark your calen-dars!

Band News

On February 21, the Grade 8 Band performed at the Optimist Band Festival. This Festival gives Bands from all over Mani-

toba and beyond the opportunity to present their work to an audience and three internationally renowned adjudicators.

We listened to two other Bands, got a critique of our performance, a start rating, and a 20 minute clinic with one of the

panel of judges. Afterwards, we had our picture taken by a professional photographer. This event involves students from

grade 7 or 8 all the way up to grade 12, and some of the best Bands at the festival are from right here in Pembina Trails! I

hope that all of you get a chance to attend one of the evening sessions sometime. It is quite a treat, and the culmination

of a lot of hard work.

The grade 7 Band will be performing at the Level 1 Band Festival on April 25. Information on this event will be sent out

shortly.

Our Jazz Band continues to rehearse on Tuesdays at lunch. Grade 6 students are now enriching our numbers! New

members are always welcome.

Grade 6 students are beginning to think about next year. We will be expanding our instrumentation to include bass clari-

net, French horn and the full complement of saxophones. Students who are able to demonstrate a commitment to devel-

oping their skills on these instruments will have a chance to try them in the coming weeks and we will make final deci-

sions before March break. If your child is interested in exploring a switch and you have questions, please do not hesitate

to contact me.

Our final concert of the year will take place on June 8. Please mark your calendars!

Thank you for your continued support.

Linden Meadows Parent Advisory Council

SUPER LUNCH / SUPER SNACK

Thursday, March 16th

Deadline for the next Super Lunch/Super Snack is Wednesday March 2nd. Should you wish to add or change a current paid order, please contact me as I have to make the changes for you. This is also the case if you have only ordered once before and are trying to add another order, please contact me so we can accom-modate you. Everyone really enjoyed their extra fun lunches we added for February! Thank you to the wonderful Super Lunch Team that we have and the volunteers that come in to help in their child’s classrooms. We are so fortunate to have this wonderful program at our school that all the kids enjoy. Staff are welcome to order Super Lunch too! If you are interested, please let me know and I can help get you started. We are always more than happy to accommodate.

If you can, please volunteer in your child’s class (or even in other classes that need assistance) for Super Lunch. Simply let your child’s teacher or myself know if you can make it. Your help is always appreciated!

If you have any questions about this program, please contact Carla Rose @ casarosa@shaw.ca. Thank you for your continued support of this fun lunch!

Thank you for your continued support of Super Lunch & Super Snack!

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March P.E. NEWS

Grade 4-6 students who are part of indoor track and field have been

working hard in preparation for their upcoming meets. The first meet will

be the Boeing Indoor Classic On March 2. The second meet is for the

Athletics Manitoba Elementary Relays which takes place on March 14.

Good luck to all of our participants. Go Wolves!

We just finished another very successful PAD (Physical Activity Day) in

February. Although we hit a bit of a snag with the weather, causing a last

minute change with the Wildwood Park group. Who knew that we were

going to have a number of plus 10 degree days in February? The day

was still fantastic! Many smiles were had as students tried new activi-

ties, got active and looked at the importance of taking time for physical

activity.

Basketball season will be wrapping up this month. The regular season

for our 7s and 8s will be coming to a close Monday March 6 with playoffs

taking place between March 8 and March 15. A continued thank you is

extended to all of our coaches and assistants involved in making this

possible. Good luck to all teams. Here’s hoping to some postseason

success!

With basketball wrapping up look for information about the upcoming

badminton program as we head towards Spring Break.

Hopefully we see a continuation of our beautiful weather in March, allow-

ing for staff, students and families to get outside and have a fantastic,

active Spring Break!!!

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Check it out @ the library

I definitely think the excitement of celebrating Canada's 150th Birthday was

awakened this past month for I love to read! Our 'Keep Canadian and Read

On' theme was a big hit with our Global Village Cultural Day, LM students

reading in their first languages on LMTV, makerspace activities, photo booth,

national flag day and especially our guest author David A. Robertson Our

school wide Read-In on February 27th was a fun celebration of all our reading

and activities. Thank you for all your support.

Along with our Canadian theme, we’ve had many ongoing projects happening

in the library. Our gr. 7’s have been working on their book trailers while our

gr.8’s are getting ready for their very own production of Grade 8 Reads

(similar to CBC’s Canada Reads TV show). Our early years have been read-

ing their way through the Forest of Reading program along with learning

through creation in our Makerspace!

March is going to be another exciting month in the library! We plan to apply

our coding skills by working with Spheros. All students at LM will be creating

their very own Canadian Pledge Cards to be placed in a book in Ottawa to

connect and celebrate Canada!

We are in need of Lego! If you have some pieces lying around that need a

good home please donate them to our library. Thank You!

Lost and Found

The lost and found has been put out on tables in the main hallway of the school.

Teachers will be taking students by to check for their belongings. Please take a look for any of your child’s missing items. The tables will be out until March 16

th and then they will

be packed up and donated to a local charity..

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Building Communities

Counselling News—Jennifer Stewart

CLASSROOM VISITS!

Examples of classroom visits during the month of February included – reading the following books

and discussing concepts -

Please Explain ‘Anxiety’ to Me – This book translates anxiety from the jargon of psychology into con-

crete experiences that children can relate to. Children and their parents will understand the biological

and emotional components of anxiety responsible for the upsetting symptoms

they experience.

Good People Everywhere - A colorful picture book that will warm the hearts of

children and adults alike, each of its pages contain endearing examples and

vibrant illustrations to inspire children to grow into grateful, caring, and giving

people.

Grade 7 and 8 - Mental Illness Research Assignment - Students are researching two

assigned public figures diagnosed with mental illness. Public figures have been

paired to provide opportunities for students to compare and contrast similar men-

tal illnesses diagnosed during different time periods.

Please mark your Calendars – Wednesday, March 15th, 2017 – 6:30 –

8:00 p.m.

SERC (Sexual Education Resource Centre) - https://www.serc.mb.ca/

For our Grade 5 and 7 Families – We will have a presentation from SERC.

Linda Plenert will be discussing and sharing information from the Grades 5 and 7 Health Curriculum

– Healthy Lifestyle Practices and Human Sexuality. This is a chance to ask questions. Linda will be

happy to answer any questions you have about your children and sexuality. This will be a ‘How To’

feel and be more comfortable addressing these topics with your child!

http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/cur/physhlth/grade_5.html

http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/cur/physhlth/grade_7.html

**PLEASE let Ms. Stewart know if you plan to attend! THANK YOU! jstewart@pembinatrails.ca

TEAM RECYCLING!

Our daily Recycling program will begin right after the Spring break. Recycling will be part of our

Classroom jobs – and the students will empty their classroom recycling every day after lunch.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me by e-mail at jstewart@pembinatrails.ca, by

phone at # (204) 489-0799 (ext. 1861)

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“Spring Break Special Events”

At the Fort Garry Library

Fiddlers on the Loose

The Manitoba Chamber Orchestra will entertain us with a lively performance! Listen to

the wide range of entertaining musical styles and discover how the instruments make

the sounds they do.

For families with children ages 0-12!

Thursday March 30th, at 11 AM

Acting Foolish

Calling all junior comedians

Come join in the fun with fractured fairytales, silly games and a chance to create your

very own skit!

Friday March 31st, From 2-3 pm

For ages 6-12

Registration begins February 21st at the reference desk

Or by phoning 204-986-4918

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Hop into spring break at Oak Hammock Marsh!

From March 27 – 31, have fun participating in daily themed activities at Oak

Hammock Marsh Interpretive Centre or register for one or all of our day camps. Camp runs daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and is for children ages 6 to 9. Camp is

filled with fun indoor and outdoor themed activities that may include scavenger hunts, animal tracking, outdoor cooking and nature crafts. For more infor-

mation on daily themes or to register a camper please visit:

http://www.oakhammockmarsh.ca, or call (204) 467-3300.

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