February is a month we showcase friendship and caring at Sarah Thompson School. As a “Leader in Me” school, we make it our habit to look for opportunities to show kindness and caring for our peers and community. We look to support and encourage each of them in a variety of ways.
As an ongoing initiative we continue to look for volunteers to work with students in the area of literacy. Our Wee Reads program targets kindergarten students who require extra attention in letter sound recognition. Our Precision Reading program focuses on older students in the area of reading fluency and confidence. It is a commitment of less than an hour a week for eight weeks. Your involvement will make a world of difference in the literacy of a child. Some startling statistics are emerging in the area of child literacy. “1/4 of Canadian children entering school today are already significantly behind their peers in literacy & learning skills. If a child doesn’t catch up to their peers’ literacy levels by grade 3, it is unlikely they ever will”.* If you are available to volunteer, please contact the school at 403-936-6141 for more information.
Our community partners; the Sarah Thompson School Council and FoSTES (Friends of Sarah Thompson Elementary Society) have been hard at work fundraising to help support our burgeoning music program as well as our inquiry and environmental initiatives. Mabel’s Labels is an ongoing fundraiser that provides various custom labels for students to attach to their belongings so that they do not get lost. Another ongoing fundraiser is our clothing bin supplied to us by Alberta Community Clothing. It is located in the Buy-Low Foods/Tim Horton’s parking lot. Last month from your generous donations, we raised $115.00. This month, we will be hosting a cookie dough fundraiser. The frozen cookies should be available by the Easter break. With any of our fundraisers, it is our hope is that you opt in or out of any of them. They should provide a service or option, and not something that should be considered an obligation. We are aware that in these tough economic times, we need to work together to provide our students with the best possible and most enriching education experience.
This month alone, your generous donations have helped supplement our swim program as well contribute to our field trips. It has also allowed us to purchase 30 more sets of children’s snowshoes and snow toys for students to use outside. We sincerely appreciate your support.
The Kindergarten registration has begun. This year, it is a lottery system. We cannot guarantee mornings or afternoons, so to make the process equitable, every new registrant will choose a number. It is important to have the proper documentation when registering either online or at the school. Please contact the office if you have any questions. We will be hosting a Welcome to Kindergarten parent night on June 1st at 5:30pm.
The book, Wonder by R. J Palacio has become very popular at Sarah Thompson School. It is a story about a grade 5 boy who is just like the other kids except that he has facial abnormalities. It is the journey of how he must try to convince his new classmates that he’s just like them, despite appearances. Each week, his teacher gives the class a precept to think about. Here is one that is particularly appropriate for us;
“Kindly words do not enter so deeply into men as a reputation for kindness”. – Mencius
