Chester Ronning School

Hello again, Chester Ronning School Community.

Amazingly, it's already March! Personally, I always look forward to seeing the calendar turn to March as the days are getting noticeably longer, temperatures are trending warmer and all of the other signs that spring is not too far off. The March 18-22 Spring Break is nearly upon us and there is also a 4-day Easter weekend coming up at the end of the month, so I'm sure that students and staff alike are looking forward to those breaks and the opportunities to recharge for the final stretch of the school year.

In the past month, kindness was extra evident throughout our school. Our February and March assemblies focused on the Circle of Courage traits of Generosity and Belonging and our Gr. 2 and 4 classes filled our buckets with messages about how to be kind to one another and making sure that everyone recognizes their important place within our school community. Our February morning announcements included "Kindness Missions" that encouraged staff and students to take action to recognize and demonstrate appreciation for others. And on February 28, Pink Shirt Day, many members of our staff and some parents got up extra early and volunteered extra time to provide a pink pancake breakfast for every student in our school! This provided a great start to a day that holds a simple, but powerful message encouraging us to see beyond individual differences and to celebrate how each person's uniqueness contributes to a strong, vibrant community.

As a final note, I hope that all of our families received an invitation to sign-up for the second round of Parent Teacher Interviews, which are taking place next week, on March 13 and 14. Our teachers are looking forward to conversations about each students' learning during the last several months and, if you were unable to select a time yourself, you can expect a note with an assigned time to meet with your child's homeroom teacher, which we hope you will be able to attend. We look forward to seeing you there!

Yours in Education, As Always,

Reid Lansing,

CRS Principal

BRSD calendar

March 10 - Daylight Saving Time - Change your clocks (spring forward one hour)

March 13/14 - Parent Teacher Interviews

March 15 - Hot Lunch - Panago Pizza

March 18-22 Spring Break - NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS

March 25 - School resumes at 8:15 AM

March 26- School Council Meeting at 8:45 AM

March 29 - Good Friday - SCHOOL IS CLOSED

April 1- Easter Monday - SCHOOL IS CLOSED

April 2 - KTT Grad Pictures

April 3 - KMW Grad Pictures

April 4 - Early Dismissal at 12:00 PM. Theme Day TBA

April 4- Hot Lunch Orders Are Due - Fatburger

April 8 - Grade 4 Starts Swimming Lessons *See permission form for more details

April 9 - Grade 3 & 4 fieldtrip to Peter Lougheed Centre *See online permission forms

April 11 - Grade 1 fieldtrip to the Telus World of Science

April 15 - Professional Learning Day - NO SCHOOL

April 19 - Hot Lunch - Fatburger

March 13 and 14 (NEXT WEEK!) CRS is hosting in-person parent-teacher interviews. These will be booked online for in-person interviews.

Please note that there will be three schedules to choose from. This is to allow for the requirements and flexibility for staff who are part-time, shared with other schools, have multiple classes, or are on leave for the scheduled dates of interviews.

- Grades 1B, 1D, 2St, 3P, 4F, 4K, 4O, 5M - March 13 and 14 (10-minute interviews in a 15-minute block)

- KMW, KTT1 (S. Bradley) - March 13 and 14 and KTT2(K. Skoglund), 2A, 2SC - March 13 (10-minute interviews in a 10-minute block)

- 3H, 5J - March 26, 27 - (10-minute interviews in a 15-minute block)

You can book starting March 5 at 4 pm until Monday, March 11 at 10:00 am.
Parent Instructions are linked - one version has images and one is a more condensed version.

Please book soon! The website to book your 10-minute interview appointments is found here: https://crs.schoolappointments.com/ Each year you will need to create a new account and password. the school does not create these.

A PTI Conversation Guide that you could jot ideas down ahead of time, to help guide the conversation will be sent home later in the week.

Parent Instructions with images - PTI School Online appointments

CRS Office hours are: 8am - 12pm and 12:30pm - 3:30pm. We will be closed from March 18-22 for spring break.

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

The next meeting for School Council is Monday, March 26th at 8:45 AM in the office. We invite all interested families to join us.

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)

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.

If your child will be away, please call the school at 780-672-5588 and leave a message or email chesterronning-aa@brsd.ab.ca You can email or call at any time of the day or night and leave a message.

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.

Each year we are required to provide Alberta Education with a signed and dated "Student Verification Form" for each of our students. The electronic Re-enrolment and verification form includes our BRSD FOIP and Technology Use form and needs to be completed as soon as possible. If you are a new to Chester Ronning family the form may not yet have been assigned to you. Watch your email for a notification. This is inceredibly important and we really appreciate your help in getting this completed quickly.

Please see the step by step guide below.

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.

Parent Portal - this portal is where you will have access to real-time assessments regarding your child's learning. This is also where you will find the link to SchoolEngage to complete the "Student Re-Enrolment and Verification Forms"

Real time report cards were released on December 6, 2023. Below is a chart of descriptions for the learning behaviours and levels of achievement.

Did you know that Battle River School Division offers free e-books and audiobooks to students, faculty and staff? Students can simply log in using school credentials (Google SSO) and instantly access hundreds of eBooks and audiobooks on virtually any device. Get started today at https://soraapp.com or download the free Sora app for Android or iOS. Our digital collection is available 24/7 and all you need to get started is an internet connection and your school email. Check it out by downloading Sora, the student reading app or going to the Sora website.

You can easily find us in Sora by searching:

"Let’s find your school" and you key in Battle River School Division (not Chester Ronning School). Use your students' school email address@brsd.ab.ca and their school password. If you need help finding this information contact either your student’s teacher or Mrs. Green.

Our digital learning commons connects students with a collection of reading materials to supplement their studies, as well as offering the kind of titles they would find in a public library for pleasure reading. There is a great opportunity to broaden our collection with required reading and recommended titles that are used in classes. From classic literature to graphic novels, there is a wide variety of books available!

You can also connect your account to the Parkland Regional Library collection (even if you don't have a Camrose Public Library card) to expand the number of books available to you. The age ratings will also automatically align with what we have in our division, so younger students shouldn't have access to young adult content. Please follow the guidelines on the poster below to connect to the Parkland Regional Library.

Digital books are compatible with smartphones, tablets, e-Readers and computers. Titles can be read right in the internet browser or downloaded using the free Sora app. Happy reading!

If you need help please contact Mrs. Green our LCF she would be happy help you.

kgreen@brsd.ab.ca or 780-672-5588

For help on using SORA, here is a link to their FAQ page: https://help.soraapp.com/en-us/5033.htm

On behalf of the Alberta Association of Optometrists, we are excited to share the Eye See Eye Learn parent packages. There is Alberta Health coverage towards the eye exams and the program provides free eyeglasses to those kindergarten students who are found to need eyeglasses. Please see the link below.

English

As 80% of children’s learning is visual, it is essential to emphasize the importance of scheduling an eye examination for all school aged children, and especially for kindergarten students as they begin their in-school learning years. Early detection and intervention can significantly impact a child's educational journey.

Independence - do the right thing, even when nobody's watching. This is called integrity. It's not something you show others, it's how you behave behind their back. Focus on making good choices!

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.

Families can text or call for more information on our program

phone: (780) 314-8162

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