SEPTEMBER 2015
Principal’s Message:
Welcome Back!
Hello to All,
I hope everyone has had a restful and fun summer holiday
with family and friends. At Credit Meadows, we are ready for
another year of teaching, learning, and growing together.
Our school team would like to welcome back all students and
parents for the 2015 - 2016 school year. We would also like
to welcome all new students and their families to our Credit
Meadows Elementary School Community. It promises to be
an exciting year as we build on initiatives started last year
and begin many new ones.
Our wonderful staff at Credit Meadows have created an exciting, inspiring and welcoming environment for our students. I
thank them for their dedication and hard work in preparing for
opening day.
Thank you also to our amazing custodians, Mr. Foley, Ms.
Masters and Ms. Huizer, who have worked diligently to clean
and organize our school.
Our school looks awesome with new plants added, new
paint, classrooms are clean, organized and decorated to create a welcoming environment for our students and an updated library. The library has new furniture, iPads, and Chromebooks. Our science tech lab is completed and will be used by
our intermediate students. Students will notice new sports
equipment in the gym. A sincere thank you to our amazing
CMES School Council and our wonderful parent community
for supporting these initiatives.
CMES will be offering an opportunity for our older students to
participate in the CMES Band this year. Yes, we are having a
band under the direction of our talented Ms. Neal. This is a
wonderful opportunity for our children to learn how to play an
instrument and experience playing in a band.
Our CMES staff are looking forward to seeing our amazing
students, hearing stories about their summer adventures and
embarking on a new year of learning.
Educating a child is a partnership between home and school.
Please do not hesitate to contact us at any time if you have a
question or concern.
Yours sincerely,
Ms. Lagundzija-deFreitas (Ms. L)
CREDIT MEADOWS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
SCHOOL HOURS
08:30 a.m.
08:30 - 09:20 a.m.
09:20 - 10:10 a.m.
Entry Bell Rings
Period 1
Period 2
10:10 - 10:50 a.m.
Nutrition Break #1
10:50 - 11:40 a.m.
11:40 - 12:30 p.m.
Period 3
Period 4
12:30 - 01:10 p.m.
Nutrition Break #2
01:10 - 02:00 p.m.
02:00 - 02:50 p.m.
02:50 p.m.
Period 5
Period 6
Dismissal
*Student Safety—Students should not arrive at
CMES before 8:15 a.m. when supervisors are on the
yard. Please note new dismissal time at 2:50 p.m.
Thank you
Updating Student Information:
Parents please ensure that you take
some time to update the “Student Information Verification” forms. These forms will be sent
home soon. It is extremely important that our records are
kept up-to-date, and accurate, especially in the event of an
emergency.
Students Leaving School Premises at Lunch Time….
Please note that students are not to leave school property
at lunch time without permission. To ensure student safety, we ask that all Parents/Guardians please complete the
form indicating whether or not your child has
permission to leave school premises during this
time (12:30 pm to 1:10 pm).
Thank you.
Privacy Issues with Cell Phones/Cameras at School:
A reminder that students are not to use cell phones and other
camera devices at school. For privacy reasons, students are not
to capture images of any staff or other students from our school
community. Furthermore, all communication between home
and school should go through the main office—this way staff
will be aware of any concerns, special permissions or changes in
schedules for our students. If your child carries a cell phone for
communication while travelling to and from school, it is
to be kept in your child’s school bag and turned off during school hours.
Page 2
CALENDAR OF EVENTS:
P.D DAYS and Ministry Mandated
Days:
Sept. 8
Sept. 29
Sept. 16
Oct. 28
There will be a total of 6 P.D. days and Ministry
Mandated days when the school will be closed to
students.
First day of school
Picture Day
Grade 8s at Island Lake Outdoor Ed
Picture retake day
TERRY FOX NATIONAL SCHOOL EVENT:
Once again Credit Meadows‟ students will be participating in the National Terry Fox School event
to raise money and awareness for Cancer
Research. More details will follow closer to the
event.
Those dates are as follows:
Thursday, September 3, 2015
Friday, October 30, 2015
Friday, November 27, 2015
Friday, January 22, 2016
Friday, June 3, 2016
Friday, June 30, 2016
STUDENT SAFETY
Parking Lot Reminders:
When you enter our CMES parking lots, please ensure that you are always watching closely for any pedestrians, especially our children who can be small
and hard to see. Ensure that you are driving slowly
and checking for children before entering or exiting
the parking lot.
Student drop off and pick up should take place in our
north parking lot. The front parking lot is for our Kiss &
Ride, busses, deliveries, and staff parking. The Kiss
& Ride is meant for parents/guardians to give a quick
kiss and goodbye to your child(ren) and student/s exit
the vehicle yellow curb side. Parents/guardians are
asked not to leave your vehicle .
When parents/guardians are entering the north parking lot it is critical to remember to stay to the right as
this is a one way lot . Do not park in non parking areas as you may be ticketed. Please always watch out
for others—especially our children. Thank you!
Life Threatening Allergies:
While many children have allergies, some
children have life-threatening food allergies. We understand that many parents are becoming increasingly concerned about foods that can cause
severe, adverse, allergic reactions
and rely on your support to ensure
the safety of all students.
Please help us to maintain a safe
and healthy environment for all
students, by not sending any
snacks or lunches that contain nuts or nut products.
STUDENT SAFETY AND SCHOOL
SECURITY:
Parents/Guardians please remember that the
back doors of the school will be locked at all
times. This is to help us ensure the safety of
students and security of the school. It is
mandatory that all visitors to the school
enter through our front doors and sign in
at the office. .
If you are dropping off a lunch or any items for
your child, please leave these items/lunch in
the office, indicating who they are for, and we
will ensure that they get to your child. This
will limit classroom disruptions and any issues
in our halls.
Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.
REPORTING STUDENT
ABSENCES/LATES:
A reminder to parents that you need to
notify the school of your child‟s absence
each day your child will be absent or late.
Doing this prior to 8:30am is appreciated. Please
select the “Absences and Lates” mailbox at ext. 100
to report if your child will be absent or late.
Thank you.
Page 3
STUDENT ACCIDENT INSURANCE
Parents or guardians are responsible for expenses related to
student injuries on school premises during school activities.
Accidents can and do happen and the costs involved might not
be fully covered by Provincial Health Care or employer group
insurance plans.
The Upper Grand District School Board is empowered under
the Education Act to offer Accident and Life Insurance for
students.
Information will be sent home the first week in September
with respect to Student Accident Insurance offered by the Reliable Life Insurance Company. You should receive the Director's letter, an Acknowledgment to be signed by parents (and
returned to school) and a Student Accident Insurance application form (to be mailed directly to Reliable Life). Reliable
Life Insurance Company offers a variety of options, including
family rates and multi-year plans, at affordable prices. The
cost must be paid by parents or guardians.
Subscription is directly through Reliable Life by mail or on
line. Questions should be directed to Reliable Life at 1-800463-5437 or www.insuremykids.com
Other Important Items….
Please note that the following information will be
coming home soon (some of these forms will need
to be signed and returned to the school):




Freedom of Information Letter
Conditions for Use of Computer letter
Permission form for lunch time
Student Accident Form
Student Agendas:
Although agendas are an excellent tool to assist
students/parents/teachers with organization and
communication, they are a significant cost to the
school - therefore, as in the past, we are asking
that parents send in $7.00 to assist in the payment of these agendas. .
NEWS FROM THE CMES LIBRARY
LEARNING COMMONS
Welcome to another great year at the
Credit Meadows’ Library Learning
Commons. I hope everyone had a wonderful summer that included reading
some good books, I know I did.
This year is shaping up to be an exciting one for our community with many literary events,
some returning and some new.
The goal of our CMES Library Learning Commons is
to help every student develop a love of reading, to become a skilled user of ideas and information, and to
explore the world through print and electronic media.
In addition to the books and materials in the library,
students will be given the opportunity to work with
different computer programs and a variety of web resources that includes Learn 360 and Student Link
which are offered through the Upper Grand District
School Board. Once students have signed into the
computers at school, all of the web resources can be
accessed from your home computer using your child’s
school login, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Look for our new library website which will be up and
running in the next few weeks. It will include information about our library, book reviews, important
links and upcoming events.
Remember, our library is for your whole family. It’s a
great place to visit if you have a question that needs
to be answered or a topic to be researched, or even if
you’re looking for a good book to read. We also have a
“parent library” available for any parents interested
in reading about various topics related to raising children and school.
I am currently looking for community volunteers. If
this is something that may be of interest to you,
please contact me in the in the library.
I look forward to working with the Credit Meadows’
community to make this a memorable year.
Happy Reading.
Thank you for your support.
Kim Gammage
Teacher Librarian
MATH
Do you believe that all children can excel in mathematics?
Do you believe that children are born with the math gene?
Do you believe that children can suffer from math anxiety?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then please take a moment and continue reading.
This year our work in math will continue to focus on helping your children understand
that math is about learning, not performing. Research indicates that every time any
one of us makes a mistake in math our brains grow and connections are made1. We
need to help our children understand that making mistakes is not a „bad‟ thing. Making
mistakes is how we understand and get better at math.
At school, we want to help your children understand that math is about problem solving, reasoning and proving, making connections, communicating their thinking and
persisting when tasks are challenging. We want to help them adopt an “I Can do
Math” attitude.
In order for this to happen, we need to teach math differently than the way many of us
were taught. No longer is the teacher robotically demonstrating mathematical methods
that your children don‟t understand or care about.
Sebastian Thru, CEO of Udacity, says that we do not and cannot know what mathematics students will need in the future. The best preparation we can give them is to
teach them to be quantitatively literate, think flexibility and creatively and pre-solve
and use intuition as they develop mathematical ideas2. Math is about so much more
than plugging numbers into a formula. Math is about children actively engaging with
the problems, so that they understand how math is used in their own life. We need to
teach our children to use mathematics in the world they will live in now and tomorrow.
We‟re not sure what that world will look like, although we do know that it will be different from the world we grew up in. We also know that we want our students to love
math and say with confidence “I can do math”. As parents we think you want that too!
For ideas to support your children in math go to www.YouCubed.org
UGDSB Curriculum Department
1, International Journal of Environmental & Science Education 7, no.1 , January 2012
2. What‟s Math Got to Do With It, Jo Boaler, 2015