-March Dress Up Week

-Learning Expo - Thursday, March 23rd

-Creation of Class Lists

-Report Cards

-Grade 2 Swimming Lessons

-Students Learning English -- Lunch Club and After School Program

-Grade 4 Spring Photos -- Survey for Grade 4 Parents

-Lions Kidsight

-Nutrition Newsletter

-Important Dates

If you have a child born in 2018 please register your child online if you haven't done so already.

Registering your child online is made easy by following the two-step process:

1. Complete the online registration form located at on our HSD website.

2. Email supporting documentation to the school.

Please let friends and neighbors know it is time to register for Kindergarten for the 2023-24 school year.

https://hsd.ca/schools/student-registration/

There will be a Kindergarten Welcome Evening early in May. You will receive emails from the school with all the details sometime in April, provided you have registered by then.

Monday: Cohort Colour Day

Tuesday: Crazy Hair

Wednesday: Backwards Day

Thursday: Silly Socks

Friday: PJ’s

All of our students will be showcasing this term's work, selecting work that fits into one of our Southwood characteristics of CARE.LEARN.GROW.

Kindergarten students will be performing a short concert in the gym for all their parents. Grades 1 - 4 will be showing their work in their classrooms.

Parents will be invited to attend with their child to visit their classroom during a 15 minute time slot to learn from the student and teacher about what they have been working on these past few months.

Appointment bookings should be done on Parent Portal between March 16th and March 23rd. Should you have any questions about booking on the Parent Portal, please contact our office by phone at 204-326-3518, or email southwood@hsd.ca.

The classroom learning environment has a significant impact on your child’s ability to remain engaged and learn. In the next few months, our school teams will begin the complex process of forming classes for our 2023 - 2024 School year. Our hope is to provide a stimulating environment that keeps your child engaged intellectually, emotionally, socially, and academically.

The following are considered when determining class placements:

• Student learning styles

• Student social-emotional needs

• Academic strengths and challenges

• Balanced class sizes

• School-wide perspective

• Our knowledge of social interaction and dynamics between individual students

Your child's teacher and the school teams will send home forms to collect some information from you and your child about the friends who are good “classmate fits” for them. We encourage you to talk about your child’s peers with them and about who they feel would be great learning partners for them. Friendships that work well at home and on the playground are not always as workable in the classroom. Every attempt will be made to place at least one of your child's friends with them in next year's class. But we must have these forms submitted in writing. Forms and due dates will come out in the April Newsletter.

We recognize that along with familiar peers, your child’s teachers have a significant impact on their ability to remain engaged in the classroom content. Given appropriate support at home and at school, it has been our experience that the vast majority of placements are successful. Where a placement is proving challenging we ask that parents and students give it the time required for friendships and classroom community to develop.

If you, as the parent/guardian, feel that you have information that would support the school’s decision for class placement we require that you email Ms. Chantal Johnson (chjohnson@hsd.ca) by April 30th, 2023. The request should be based on the above list of considerations and contain the educational reason for your request. We will not consider placement requests that do not come through the school administration.

Please remember the many factors that are considered when making a class list and that teachers will have a large say in the student groupings.

Class placements for the 2023 - 2024 school year will be included in the June report card.

Thank you for your continued support and commitment to your child's education.

Marge Thiessen

Principal

March 10th, 2023 is an Administration Day for all Grades K-4 teachers. There are no classes. The teachers use this time to complete report cards and administrative tasks in their classrooms. This is the second of three annual report cards for Gr. 1 - 4 parents. Please call your child's teacher if you have any questions or concerns.

Report cards will be available on the Parent Portal Monday, March 20th at 11:00 am.

Lessons for Grade 2's will start Monday, April 3rd. Permission forms will be sent home with your grade 2 student to complete. Please be sure to complete the permission forms and return them to your child's teacher as soon as possible in order for your child to participate. You must also complete a permission form on Parent Portal. Please do this as soon as possible. March 17th is the deadline.

Parent volunteers are always welcome. We can use all the parents who sign up to assist with supervision at the pool! If you are interested and able to volunteer, please come to the Southwood Office and get volunteer registration forms.

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Please take a moment to look at the following information as it is an opportunity for your child to participate in an after school club/activity at Southwood School. The program is hosted by a local organization in Steinbach (Eastman Immigration Services) which works together with schools to assist students and families moving into Steinbach from other countries. The after school program is open to all Southwood students, provided they have parental consent and a ride home at the specified time. The purpose of the club is to provide a safe and supportive group for students new to Southwood and learning English to play and interact with their peers.

We have an opportunity to invite LifeTouch Photography back to our school this spring to do some photos of our grade 4's. The photos would be casual photos of our grade 4's holding a certificate of Promotion. You as parents, could order these photos if you'd like, no obligation. The company would provide the school with a composite of all the Grade 4's for the 2022/2023 school year and include a Certificate of Promotion for our Grade 4's with their picture on it for the Grade 4 Farewell. Please take a moment to click on the link and indicate whether or not you would be interested in purchasing photos like this, this spring.

March 7 -- Assembly - 12:10 -- STEAM Month

March 10 - Admin Day - NO Classes

March 12 - Daylight Savings Time begins

***March 20 - 24 -- Dress up Week - Info to Follow

March 20 - Term 2 Reports Available on Parent Portal

March 21 - Assembly - 12:10

March 23 - Student Learning Expo

March 27 - 31 Spring Break - No Classes

April 3 - Classes resume after spring break, school day 4

April 7 - No Classes - Good Friday

April 12 - Pink Shirt Day

April 12 - Assembly - 12:10 - Pink Shirt Day

April 17 - No Classes - Admin / PD

April 25 - Assembly - 12:10 - Earth Day / Bike Safety Assembly