Chester Ronning School
December 2023 News
Principal's Messages
Happy New Year, everyone! I hope that everyone enjoyed a nice break from school over the holidays and that 2024 will be filled with positivity and opportunities.
I am so proud of the work being done by students and staff at Chester Ronning School. Our teachers are all using the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills assessment (DIBELS) to monitor students’ achievement across a range of literacy skills. Each grade-level team has common literacy time that allows teachers and support staff to work together to focus on particular areas for improvement or enrichment identified for students across their classes and, in some cases, even across grade levels. STEAM classes are a weekly highlight for many students as they observe Mr. Hills’ incredible demonstrations and do experiments that pique their curiosity about mathematics and the sciences, and students also get to be creative problem solvers and builders while learning technology skills. Thanks to Mrs. Green’s efforts, we now have a Maker-space, full of hands-on opportunities for students to explore learning and various artistic and fine motor skills. And these are just a few examples of the exciting work being done at our school! We are looking forward to continuing to build on these kinds of exciting learning opportunities for students in 2024.
One last thing that I would like to touch on is the very cold weather we have been experiencing. After a very mild fall and start to the winter, it seems that Mother Nature is making sure we all know that we’re still living in Alberta! As a reminder, BRSD buses and the Handivan will be cancelled when temperatures, including windchill, fall below -40℃. Regardless of the temperature, our school will always be open with teachers here to welcome students. Whenever it is colder than -20℃, again including windchill, it will be an indoor recess although we have several students permitted to participate in the new Polar Bear Club who will continue to go outside as long as temperatures stay above -27℃. Whether your child is in the Polar Bear Club or not, please ensure that they have proper winter clothing and boots every day and please talk to them about zipping up their coats and wearing head and hand coverings, even for what might seem like a short walk between the car and the school. We want everyone to be safe and comfortable no matter how long they expect to be outside.
Stay safe and warm!
Reid Lansing
Chester Ronning School Office
CRS Office hours are: 8am - 12pm and 12:30pm - 3:30pm. We will be closed from Dec. 21-Jan. 3 and will re-open Jan. 4 at 8am.
If you are calling and don't reach anyone, please leave a message or try again. We do our best to answer every phone call, but taking care of a student always comes first and we occasionally may miss a call, so leave us a message or try again. We have had a couple of parents say that the voicemail doesn't pick up for them to leave a message, if you are also finding this is still happening, please let us know so we can get it fixed.
As Mrs. MacKay and Mrs. Beck are job sharing and have days that we won't be in the office, if you are emailing about daily attendance absences, please use this email instead to allow for both admin assistants to see the message: chesterronning-aa@brsd.ab.ca
Thank you and Goodbye
Thank you to Ms. Hailey Rees, our work experience student that helped out in our learning commons.
Calendar of Important Dates 2023-2024
January 8- 19 - Oral Health Program for grades K-2 - More details to come.
January 19 - Hot Lunch - Wok Box
January 24 - Hot Lunch Order are now due for Fatburger
January 31 - Staff Collaboration Day - NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS
February 5 - School Council meeting at 3:00 PM in the learning commons
February 8 - Early Dismissal at 12:00 pm. Theme Day - TBD
February 9 - Hot Lunch - Fatburger
February 15-16 - Teachers Convention - NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS
February 19 - Family Day - School is closed.
February 26 - Staff Professional Learning Day - NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS
School Council
School Bell Times
8:00 am - Outdoor supervision of students begins
8:15 am - Morning Call-in Bell; Please do your best to have students here on time.
8:19 am - Classes begin
10:05 am - Morning recess
11:20 am - 12:00 pm - Lunch Break
1:45 pm - Afternoon Recess
3:00 pm - Dismissal (Early Dismissal Days - 12:00 noon)
School Attendance
Did you know that all BRSD Schools have attendance policies?
The CRS Attendance Policy has been updated and posted to our website. Please review it by clicking HERE. We know that school attendance is an important factor for students to achieve their greatest successes. Our updated policy will be rolled out in earnest when we return in the New Year.
We endeavor to have all students' attendance entered before 8:45 am. After 8:45 am, our Messenger system will start calling and emailing any student that has been marked absent, with no parent call. This helps to ensure our students are safe.
Our phone lines can be very busy, so please leave a message or try again if you don't reach anyone.
Students who arrive late, can come in through the front door and we will sign them in and send them off to their class.
New Digital Consent Forms
Permission forms will now be available online. If your child is attending extra curricular activities or a field trip, please fill out the appropriate form linked to your account.
PowerSchool Parent Portal
Real time report cards were released on December 6, 2023. Below is a chart of descriptions for the learning behaviours and levels of achievement.
Grade 4/5 Basketball Season
Grades 4 and 5 Basketball Season is about to begin! Sign up with the link below. Click on the online payments and ordering tab and then the fieldtrip and activity tab and look for the basketball. Schedules for both teams are included below.
A Secret To Raising A Good Listner
Office Forms - These are now due to be completed for EVERY student!
To access and complete this form, you will need to:
1. Log into the parent portal via your web browser (Google Chrome for example).
2. Click on the SchoolEngage icon. You will be redirected to the SchoolEngage site where you can select your child's name.
3. Click on the 2023-2024 Student Re-Enrollment and Verification Form and then on the blue icon in the first column to review the information.
4. Once you have completed your verification, click on the green submit button.
This is incredibly important and we really appreciate your help in getting this completed quickly.
Breakfast Club
Breakfast club is back! We are currently offering a quick grab and go breakfast snack in the front foyer at 8:05am - 8:15am. They will continue to the playground or boot room until the call in bell rings. There will be no early entry to the school.
Hope Mission Monthly Meal Supplement
Families can text or call for more information on our program
phone: (780) 314-8162
School Contact Information
Mr. Lansing, Principal - rlansing@brsd.ab.ca
Mr. Pederson, Assistant Principal - npederson@brsd.ab.ca
Chester Ronning School website - cronning.brsd.ab.ca
General Admin Assistant email: chesterronning-aa@brsd.ab.ca
Battle River School Division website - brsd.ab.ca