The partners in learning at King George School, students, staff, parents and community are
committed to providing a safe environment that promotes lifelong learning in a climate of
mutual respect and cooperation.
Dates to
Principal ‘s Message
Remember
Thank you to all of our families who attend the afternoon pow
wow and/or spring feast The food was delicious and it was
great to spend some time visiting with the families that
attended. It was great to see several of our students share a
part of their cultural heritage with us.
May 8—Divisional Badminton Jamboree
May 11 - Track & Field for students in grades 4 8 at the Sportsplex
May 12 - WSO (afternoon) for
interested students in Ms. Meadow, Mr. Dueck,
Mr. Cowell, Mr. Sallows, and Mrs. Duncalfe’ s classes
KING GEORGE SCHOOL— MAY 2015
May 15 - School Planning - No classes
May 18 - Victoria Day - No classes
May 22 - Earth Ranger Presentation
(grades 1-8)
June 3 - Family Fun Night (more information
to follow)
June 26 - Awards (grades 5 - 8)
June 29 - Last Day of classes
Book Exchange
King George School is
having a book exchange
on Thursday, May 28, 2015.
Over the next few weeks,
bring in any gently used children and
young adult books that you have at home.
Please give the books to your child’s
teacher and he/she will keep track of the
number of books brought in. Then on the
exchange day, your child will choose
different books to take home. (Example:
Your child brings 3 books to school to donate; the day of the exchange she/he may
take 3 different ones.)
Our goal is to encourage the love of
reading in all of our students!
If you have any questions, please feel free
to ask Ms. Watkins.
May is very busy month! Please remember to check your
child’s agenda or B.E.E bag and ensure that all appropriate
off-site activity forms are completed and returned to school
on time. Your support and cooperation will ensure your child
does not miss out on any important learning activities.
Over the course of the month, we will be reviewing and
practicing a variety of safety drills including fire drills, lock
down, shelter-in-place, and severe weather threat. The
information about our safety drills was sent home in late
September. If you have questions about any of these drills,
please feel free to contact the office.
I am please to welcome the following staff to our school to
work with students from now until the end of June: Mrs.
Dyck (Early Years Literacy Support), Ms. Graham (music), and
Mr. Moorehead (grade 7).
We are diligently working on plans for the 2015 - 2016 school
year. We are planning to have multi-level classrooms to
address the learning needs of our students. In keeping with
this philosophy, we will have students stay with their teacher
for that second year where possible. If you have a request for
a change from this practice, please contact me to discuss the
needs of your child. We hope to provide you with an overview
of staffing in the upcoming weeks.
We look forward to see you all at our Family Fun Night, which
will be held June 3, 2015. You will be receiving more information and a supper order form soon. All funds raised
through this event will go to support EBS activities in the
school.
Congratulations to Huiying Liu, Helly Patel, Lixin
Chang, Long Hui Zhang, Lauren Shymanski, and
Jordyn Little on perfect attendance this school
year. To celebrate this accomplishment they will
enjoy a pizza and ice cream lunch with Ms. Miller.
School Contact Information
Telephone: 204-729-3990
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: www.bsd.ca/schools/kinggeorge/Pages
3/4 Meadows Classroom Highlights
Over the past several weeks leading up to Earth Day, Ms. Meadows’ grade 3/4 class has
been participating in an environment program called Planet Protectors. The City of Brandon
has partnered up with DreamRider Productions to provide this program free of charge! This is the first time
the Planet Protector Academy program has been introduced in Manitoba and we were chosen as one of the classes
to try it in Brandon! Ms. Meadows and her class would like to thank the City of Brandon and DreamRider for
covering the cost of this exciting, engaging, interactive and technology based resource! Each week, the four teams
made in our class (Earth, Air, Fire and Water) compete to collect points for their team in several different ways
including answering game show questions, acting out scenarios, creating environmental songs or posters and much
more! Another aspect of the program is students go on home missions to help raise environmental awareness in the
community or at home. This is what one of our students wrote about the program:
“Planet Protectors is a good way to help the environment. It also brings the community
together. Altogether we can make animal habitats cleaner! We can also save electricity and
energy by turning lights off after you’re done in the room. If we all do this together we can
make the world a happier place! WE ARE ALL PLANET PROTECTORS!” –Riley
Ms. Meadows’ class will continue to help raise awareness and take action to help protect
our planet Earth! We look forward to all of the upcoming activities planned for Earth Week,
as well as other upcoming events at King George this school
year, including The Earth Rangers show!
Parent Council
The February Parent Council meeting
will be on Tuesday, May 12th 6:30
p.m. in the school library. Please enter through the south parking lot
doors. All of our parents are encouraged to
attend. A brief staffing update will be provided.
Waiver Forms
In the next few months there will be
field trips, track and field, and other
off-site activities. All students need to
return a parent or legal guardian signed waiver in
order to participate in these activities.
Please be sure to check for waivers, sign them
and return them to school promptly so that your
child does not miss any activities.
Farwell to Mrs. Benitez
We would like to thank Mrs. Benitez for all her
work over the past 5 years at King George. We
wish her well as she joins her family in her new
home! We wish her all the best as she starts her
new adventure!
Welcome to Ms. Basaraba
We would like to welcome Ms. Basaraba to our
King George team. Ms. Basaraba is ready to help
you out in our main office as our secretary from
now until the end of June. Please feel free to
come in and introduce yourself as she gets to
know all of our families. If you require the support
of a Spanish translator, Ms. Roque is still available
to help us when needed.
Library/H.A.L.E.P News
King George School is having a book exchange on Thursday May 27, 2015. Over the next few weeks, bring in any
gently used children and young adult books that you have at home. Please give the books to your child’s teacher
and he/she will keep track of the number of books brought in. Then on the exchange day, your child will choose
different books to take home. (Example: Your child brings 3 books to school to donate, the day of the exchange
she/he may take 3 different ones.)
Students who bring in books to exchange will have the opportunity to select books first and then at the end of the
day, students who have not brought in any books will have the chance to take at least one book home. Our goal is to
encourage the love of reading with our students.
Through the Chapters Indigo grant, we were very fortunate to be able to purchase more books in other languages.
Feel free to browse this new selection on display in the library. Stay tuned for more titles as they will be displayed
over the next few months. For parents who would like to borrow books from the library, Ms. Watkins is available in
the library from 8:15-9:30 a.m., 11:45-12:45 p.m. and after 3:30 p.m. If you would like to set up a different time to sign
out books, please contact her.
We are going to inspire and empower our readers and writers with May’s focus being picture books. Often people
believe picture books are for very young students; however they are just as powerful for older students. While
enjoying good quality picture books (thanks to the donation from Indigo), students will learn why picture books are so
powerful and they will learn how pictures books are created. Now that we have a Smart Board in the library (This was
the surprise in the month of April!), we will be able to go on a virtual tour of making picture books and will learn how
various authors/illustrators create their works of art.
We are engaged in our second set of clusters with the middle years students. Clusters give students a chance to chart
their own learning path and explore a variety of topics of interest. Students work in small groups who are all
interested in the same topic or “cluster”. They get to experience, explore, and apply new skills to the solution or
investigation to real life situations. At the end of the clusters, students will present their work at an assembly in June.
Stay tuned for more information about the assembly and please accept this invitation to join us to come and see what
the students have learned.
The students will participate in a variety of activities that may include visiting other locations to gain first hand
experiences related to their area of exploration, listen to guest speakers, or participate in a variety of activities around
the school.
The following clusters are what the students have chosen for this round:
Sports
Cooking
Art
Gardening
Design
Drama
Music
Outdoor Ed
Photography
King George School held their 3rd Annual Powwow Event on Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Throughout the day, Mr. Eugene Ross had a display set up in the gymnasium that all students, staff and families were
able to visit. His educational display consisted of aboriginal beadwork, pictures, tools, and other items used in past and
present time. Mr. Ross was a great story teller and had many stories to share with our students.
There was an assembly in the afternoon where our students, who participate in the Finding My Way program,
introduced each powwow dance category. The students did research about each dance style and told about the
meaning of the dance. After each explanation dancers, in their beautiful regalia, did a demonstration.
Over 100 people attended our first Spring Feast that was offered in the evening to the school community. Stew,
bannock, and fruit were served by the King George staff to the parents, students and community members who were in
attendance. We appreciate the support of everyone who participated in and attended this event, as well as our parent
volunteers and many staff who helped with preparing and serving the food.
The King George Library was presented with 4 star pillows, which were made by the BSSAP parents who meet on
Tuesday evenings for our sewing group. If you are interested in participating in this parent group, please contact the
school for more information.
1/2 Fotheringham Classroom Highlights
In grades one and two, our current Science unit is “Objects and
Materials”. We have been discussing the characteristics of various
materials. Today we did an experiment to see which materials were
waterproof and which materials were absorbent.
We completed a special project in honour of Earth
Day and as part of our math (3-D Shapes) and
science (Objects & Materials) studies. We made a
playground using recycled materials. We made
swings, slides, monkey bars, a teeter totter and a
playhouse. We had lots of fun building and
painting!
Earth Day Celebration
nd
April 22 was International Earth Day! We celebrated by
talking about environmental stewardship throughout the
week and putting our words into action by cleaning up
garbage in the school yard and Rideau Park. We had a
few waste reduction challenges like the litterless lunch
and weighing our garbage at the end of the day to see
which class produces the least amount of waste. Each
class also produced some recycled art using different recyclable materials and getting creative. It’s great to see
the next generation inspired to do their part to take care
of the earth!
Sun Fund for Kids
You can give your child a chance to attend camp this summer through the Sun Fund for Kids
Program, run in conjunction with Child and Family Services. Funds are raised from community
donations and camps are for children ages 5 to 17, with various sessions and times during the
summer months. Application forms will be available in the school office mid May.
Milk Spirit Week
May 11 -14, 2015
Monday, May 11th – Marvellous Farmin’ Monday
Everyone dresses as a cow, farmer or anything related to a farm.
Tuesday, May 12th – Tacky Tuesday
Dairy farmers have no time to worry about fashion.
Mix & match your clothes to show some interesting combinations.
Wednesday, May 13th – Wake Up Wednesday
The dairy farmer has slept in! It’s too late to get dressed now.
Come to school in your PJ’s.
Thursday, May 14th – Thinking Cap Thursday
Dairy farmers are so smart. They always have their thinking cap on.
So wear yours! Most creative hat related to farmers will win a prize!
Daily prizes drawn for the students dressed up for each theme.
East End Community Centre News
East End Community Centre Garage Sale
Saturday May 30th from 8 a.m. – 2 p.m. in the hall.
To book a table call Sheila at 204-573-6913
There has been some vandalism at the rink.
Please report any information to Brandon City Police or King George School.
Thank you for your assistance!
Art
Gallery
Muhepua
Yanci
MAY
Booster
Juice
Lunch
Shop &
Home Ec.
Hot Dog
Lunch
6:30 p.m.
Parent
No School
No School
Subway
Lunch
Shop &
Home Ec.
Shop &
Home Ec.
Pizza
Lunch