April 2017 Newsletter

Prairie View School Dalmeny, Saskatchewan

(306) 254-2633

pvs@spiritsd.ca

Caring to Learn ….. Learning to Care

May is right around the corner and with it we

have many activities already being planned to

round out our school year. Information on the

upcoming Scholastic Book Fair, Parent and

Volunteer Appreciation BBQ, Book Swap, SCC

Elections and more can be found in this

newsletter.

Please also look for continued notes and

messages that will be sent in your child’s day

planner and in e-mails from teachers about other

class activities and field trips. This is always such

an exciting time of the year with so much on the

go!

Mrs. Janice Key Mrs. Lesa Heath Principal Vice-Principal

Upcoming Events:

May 4

Star Wars/Space Dress-up

Day

May 4

Grade 6 competing at DHS

Track Meet

May 4

SCC Election (6:30 pm)

May 19

No Classes

May 22

Victoria Day – No Classes

May 25

Family Appreciation BBQ and

Book Swap (5:00 – 6:30 pm)

May 25

SCC AGM (6:30 pm)

May 26

Western Dress-up Day

KINDERGARTEN CLASS HIGHLIGHT

The month of April has been a busy month for our two

Kindergarten classes! We have been talking about signs of

spring and hoping the weather would cooperate with us so we

could go in search of them! Hopefully next month we can get

outside and discover all of the exciting changes that come with

a new season.

This month, there has been a lot of great learning and exploring

in our classroom. Some students found interesting books about

planes and rockets. From that, we set up a center to build our

own flying machines. The students tested out their creations

both in the school and outside. We learned about how the wind changed the flight. The

students made videos that described the parts of their machines and showed how they

flew. It was a really neat learning experience for us all!

Other students worked on their teamwork skills! They have been finding new groups within

the classroom and planning different events to host together. These students have been

working on their planning, cooperation, language, and literacy skills! It has been really

interesting to see all of the wonderful ideas they have and putting them to work.

Another highlight of our month was getting the opportunity to decorate Easter eggs with

our care buddies. Our care buddies are very important to us and help us build relationships.

The grade five and six students have all been wonderful helpers and sure made this day a

ton of fun! It was great to see the creativity that came out when these students worked

together. The eggs turned out beautifully!

KINDERGARTEN REGISTRATION FOR 2017-2018

If you have a child who will be 5 years of age on or before December 31, 2017,

please contact the school and register them for the 2017-2018 school year. This is

important information for planning programs, budgeting and staffing for the upcoming

year. Parents will be contacted in the next few weeks regarding our Kindergarten

Orientation Day in June.

MARAFUN

Marafun training continues. The athletes

have been doing a wonderful job in

preparing themselves for the race that will

take place 11:00 am. Sunday, May 28th, at

Diefenbaker Park in Saskatoon. There will

be more information provided as we approach race day. Keep up the excellent effort!

Having fun in fitness and participation,

Your Marafun Leaders

Raising Readers A Home and School Connection

The month previous to Easter break, we held a school wide reading event called

“Tournament of Books”. Each week, classes read books and voted on their favourite. It

was a very exciting time around Prairie View, as the talk of the school was about the

books that students were reading as a class. The level of engagement amongst everyone

in our building was wonderful! Please ask your child(ren) about the tournament – What

was their favourite book? What did they like about the tournament of books? What was

the most exciting part of the tournament of books?

Here are the winners:

WILLOW AWARDS – P.V.S. CHOICES

During January and February, our Grade 1 - 3 students

enjoyed listening to the ten books nominated by the

Saskatchewan Willow Awards in the Shining Willow

category. The students voted for their favourite book, and

the winner was a wonderful story called Finding Winnie: the

True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear, written by

Lindsay Mattick. After all the votes by student participants

throughout Saskatchewan have been tabulated, the

award will be presented to the winning author at a Gala.

SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR

Prairie View will be having a “Buy One Get One Free”

Scholastic book fair on May 23th and 24th. Please feel free to

come and check out our selection of books between the

hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. daily. The book fair will also

be open during our Parent and Volunteer Appreciation

Barbeque on Thursday, May 25th from 5:00 – 6:30 p.m. There

will be a wireless debit/credit card machine available for book

purchases.

Thank you to all those parents who support our book fairs throughout the year and thank

you to the SCC for helping to organize and run the Book Fairs this year.

Thank you, parents, for helping make our school traffic as safe as possible. Please do not use

the staff parking lot as a drop off or pick up spot. Alternatively, use Prairie Street across from

the front of the school or Ross Street or Prairie Place. All foot traffic must cross at the

crosswalk where the crossing guards are. After school parents may also park on Prairie

Street in front of the school once the buses leave at approximately 3:10 p.m.

We stress with our students the importance of never crossing through the parking lot or in

between buses and using the crosswalks correctly.

CLASSROOM PLACEMENTS

A lot of time and energy goes into creating classroom lists for each school year. Our goal as a

school is to place students in a setting that is appropriate for each child individually and for the

group as a whole. Class placements are a group decision made by the classroom teachers,

administrators and resource room teachers.

Parent input regarding placement may be made in writing to the principal/vice-principal

before May 18. This letter should contain information regarding the child’s learning style and

needs for their learning environment. We discourage requests for a particular teacher. We

cannot guarantee that we will be able to accommodate parents’ wishes. The final placement

of a child is a school-based decision that is made using the following criteria:

Academic needs (including program and learning environment)

Social needs (ex. supportive peer relationships)

Special needs

Level of independence

Balance of males to females

Academic diversity of the group

It is an extremely time consuming process for changes to be made to class lists once they have

been established because one change usually results in several changes having to be made.

Due to the complexities of placing students in classes, decisions are considered complete

once June progress reports are handed out.

PRAIRIE VIEW SCC BOOK SWAP

1. During the week of May 23 – May 25, students can

bring good used books to their classroom. A good rule

of thumb: a book that you would welcome into your

home and is appropriate for elementary aged kids would

be welcome in the book swap. All books will be set up

on the afternoon of Thursday, May 25, so will need to be at school before then.

2. Maximum number of books to pick up is 5. You may bring more to school, but students will

only be allowed to pick up 5. Any leftover books will be used to support classroom libraries

or shared with families.

3. Classroom teachers will keep a tally of books brought in by students. These sheets will be

at grade group tables when you show up at the gym on Thursday evening.

4. When you show up at the book swap, check in at the table for your child’s grade and you

will be given the number of books your child can pick up.

This event will take place the same evening as the PVS Parent and Volunteer Appreciation BBQ.

We look forward to seeing families participating in the BBQ and reading some new-to-you books

on the playground and in the gym. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to trade some of those

books that are no longer read for ones that will encourage your child to spend their summer

reading books!

School Community Council

Update

The School Community Council hosted our annual kindergarten readiness workshop on April 11. The

workshop was led by our kindergarten teacher, Miss Kohli and our speech and language

pathologist, Kari Schmiedge. We were pleased to see approximately 25 parents turn out for

the workshop. For many it was the first time in our school and we welcome them to our school

community.

Our next meeting is on Thursday, May 4 @ 6:30 pm in the school library. Elections for vacant position will

be occurring on that date. Our Prairie View School Community Council has 3 positions open for members

for two-year terms beginning fall, 2017. We have 6 members who will be remaining for their second year

for 2017/18. Nomination forms are available from the school.

May will also prove to be a very busy month for our council in supporting our school. We will be seeking

out volunteers to assist us. On May 25 we will be providing treats at the PVS BBQ as well as hosting a

Book Swap and we will be operating the final school book fair of the year.

Finally, the school community council has sent out a parent survey to our school families. The survey is

conducted every two years and helps the council support families. Please take a moment to complete the

survey. An email link was emailed to parents or you can contact us on Facebook if you require the link.

There will be a couple draw for prizes from the families that submit a survey. Survey closes May 15.

Free childcare is provided at all our meetings and all parents and community members are welcome to

attend. If you are interested please let any council member know.

Scott Burant, SCC Chair

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