North Otter Elementary Newsletter # 1

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Where Students Reach for the STARS

Principal – Ms. Dianne Chrétien

Administrative Assistant - Ms. Pam Fee

Parent Advisory Council President – Mrs. Natalie Franklin

5370 - 248 Street, Aldergrove, B.C., V4W 1A7 Phone - 604-856-3355 Fax - 604-856-2054 Website: http://www.northotter.com/

IMPORTANT – FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL SEPTEMEMBER 5, 8:30 – 10:15 AM

September 5, 2017

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Welcome back, everyone! We are looking forward to another wonderful year together! We are growing in numbers with 13 divisions this year!

Along with our many new students and families, we are welcoming eight new staff members this year! Several of these are replacing staff

members who are moving on to other places, and others are filling positions new to the school. (Please see the following page for the full staff

list.) We also have some returning staff filling new positions.

Ms. Siobhan O’Connor will be teaching gr 5/6 this year, and she will be job sharing with Ms. Tracy Dionne.

Ms. Sabrina Jahn, who shared with Ms. Dionne last year and did Resource on other days is now our full-time Resource and Reading Recovery

teacher.

Ms. Rebecca Walsh, off on maternity leave, will be teaching Kindergarten when she returns. In the meantime, Ms. Tara Ford will be teaching

the class.

Ms. Sarah Klann will be teaching grade 3/4 this year.

Ms. Alisa Braun and Ms. Kristianne Gibson will be sharing our 2/3 class this year.

Ms. Jessica Sutlow was with us last year to cover Ms. Graham’s maternity leave, and she will now be our permanent music teacher, here on

Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

Ms. Joanne Hoedemaker will be our new Learning Commons teacher, working in our library Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Ms. Leanne Fleming will be our new counselor.

Ms. Joyce Stratis will be our new SEA.

This year we are excited to continue working in our interpretive garden, enjoying a full year of planting, and Mr. Drew Atkins will be coming to

complete the carvings of our four spirit masks. The Raven, Salmon, Bear and Wolf will be the names of our four house teams this year. First

Peoples’ Principles of Learning will be a big emphasis for us as we continue to define ourselves as a community of learners. We will be

developing our Otter Spirit and Otter Pride. Our animal spirit, the Otter, is the spirit of curiosity and play, and we want to teach our children to

take pride in their learning and in their community. We are using the SPIRIT acronym, rather than STAR, to name the qualities we are nurturing

in our students, and at our monthly Celebration Assemblies we will be giving out SPIRIT AWARDS:

Safety

Pride

Integrity

Respect

Intelligence

Teamwork

You will see the staff wear their “Otter Pride, Otter Spirit, Otter Staff” t-shirts, and we will invite you later in the fall to purchase “Otter Pride,

Otter Spirit, Otter Student” and “Otter Pride, Otter Spirit, Otter Parent” t-shirts. WE ARE ALL OTTERS!

I have already had many conversations with parents in the last couple of weeks sharing information about their children and earnestly seeking

the best for them in their learning this year. This is SO helpful. The more we know about your children, the better we can guide them and create

the best environment for them to be happy in school and learn well. We know that it is crucial that we get to know each child and understand

what they need in order to learn and that we meet those needs. Rest assured that we are committed to do this and are excited to work alongside

you to make this year great for your child!

Sincerely,

Dianne Chretien

Principal

North Otter Staff - 2017/2018 Principal Ms. Dianne Chrétien Classroom Teachers Mrs. Shannon Spence Grade 6/7 Division 1 Mrs. Elaine Wallace Grade 6/7 Division 2 Mrs. Tracy Dionne/Ms. Siobhan O’Connor Grade 5/6 Division 3 Mrs. Jocelyn Popil Grade 4/5 Division 4 Mr. Ryan Harris Grade 3/4 Division 5 Ms. Sarah Klann Grade 3/4 Division 6 Mr. David Garland Grade 3 Division 7 Mrs. Alisa Braun/Ms. Kristianne Gibson Grade 2/3 Division 8 Ms. Laurie Lang Grade 2 Division 9 TBA Grade 1/2 Division 10 TBA Grade 1 Division 11 Ms. Kelly Smith Grade K Division 12 Ms. Tara Ford Grade K Division 13 Resource/LA Teacher Ms. Sabrina Jahn Resource/LA Teacher Mrs. Angie Ribeyre Music Teacher Mrs. Jessica Sutlow Band Teacher Mr. Mark Follett School Counsellor Ms. Leanne Fleming ELL Teacher Ms. Kamal Sohal Speech & Language Teacher Ms. Gillian Parker Administrative Assistant Ms. Pam Fee Youth Support Worker Mrs. Ulla Thomas StrongStart Facilitator Mrs. Tracy Marno Aboriginal Support Worker Ms. Kristi Trattle Special Education Assistants Mrs. Darlene Kopfensteiner Mr. Narend Pala Mrs. Karen Coesel Mrs. Joyce Stratis Mr. David Isak Mrs. Sherry Brown Mrs. Judy Darey Mrs. Melissa Cox Mrs. Carmen Phelan Library Technician Ms. Renee Cheung Noon Supervisors Mrs. Mary Thorpe Mrs. Joanne VanGenderen Custodians Mr. Scott Hazard Mrs. Gaby Krebs Police Liaison Officer – Cst. Jody Park

An Important Reminder If your child has a life-threatening condition, this is a reminder that you need to inform the school of this and familiarize us with any emergency care or medication they may need. If medication is needed by a student through the year, you must complete a “Request for Administration of Medication” form (available at the office) and the medication needs to be kept at the front office.

North Otter is a Peanut and Nut Aware School. As we have children who have severe nut allergies we must ask that you not send any food items containing nuts to school. We also have a child who is severely allergic to all berries and therefore we ask that you do not send berries or berry juices to school. Thank you for your assistance in this very important matter.

Our PAC executive is still to be determined. Please attend the PAC meeting Thursday, Sept. 14, 6:30 pm for this purpose.

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Volunteer/Visitor Sign In

The staff at North Otter sincerely appreciate the tremendous amount of support we get from our parents. We will again be

asking parents and visitors to help us out in a number of ways this year, so I’d like to remind you that Board Policy is that

you complete the appropriate volunteer forms from the office and that you sign in when you come to school and sign out

when you leave. Thank you!

Electronic Devices

It is a school-wide expectation that students at North Otter are not allowed to use cell phones/cameras/mps/psps or other

electronic devices at school. Students are welcome to bring them to school but they must be kept in their backpacks (not

their desks) during the entire school day. If you need to contact your child in the case of an emergency, please feel free to

contact the office directly. Similarly, if your child needs to make a phone call, they are more than welcome to with the

permission of a staff member. If students forget the rule, we will gladly hold onto their electronic device until the end of the

day. This will help ensure the safety and privacy of all of our students and staff.

StrongStart at North Otter - Room 11 StrongStart is a program for children ages 0 – 5 and their parent or caregiver. This is a free drop-in program and snacks are provided to the children. This program is open Monday to Friday from 8:30 – 11:30 a.m. Please bring your child’s birth certificate or proof of citizenship (e.g. Immigration papers) etc. on your first day for registration purposes.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR STUDENTS

ARRIVING LATE, LEAVING EARLY OR ABSENT

It is now required that when a student arrives late to school they must sign-in on the sheet at the front

counter in the office and indicate their time of arrival.

As well, if a parent is pulling their child from class early they must sign them out and indicate the time of

leaving.

If your child is going to be absent please remember to call the office before school starts at 8:35. 604-

856-3355

Bell Schedule

2017-2018

Warning Bell 8:30

Start Time 8:35

Recess 10:15 – 10:30

Lunch 11:50 – 12:35

Dismissal 2:35

COMING HOME SOON

Student Verification Form

School Internet-Based Tools Permission Form

Student Image Permission Form

Please read carefully, sign and return to your

child’s teacher as soon as possible.