R.M. GRAUER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENT HANDBOOK 2015-2016 Ms. Anna Ho PRINCIPAL 444O Blundell Road Richmond, B.C. V7C 1G9 604-668-6547 Early Warning: 604-668-7890 Website: http://grauer.sd38.bc.ca
The GRAUER SCHOOL MISSION STATEMENT: At Grauer, we create a safe, supportive learning community which inspires a positive attitude, academic, social and emotional growth, lifelong learning and respect for all. We do our best -- as individuals, as a school, as a community! Grauer Professional Development Days 2015 2016 The following dates have been designated as 2015-2016 Professional Development Days for the purpose of staff development and in-service training. Students will not be in school on these days. Friday, September 25, 2015 Friday, October 23, 2015 (Provincial) Monday, November 30, 2015 Friday, February 19, 2016 (District) Friday, April 22, 2016 (District) Wednesday, June 29, 2016 SCHOOL HOURS (School doors opens at 8:30am) GRADES K - 7 Monday - Friday 8:42am Classes begin 10:15am 10:30am Recess 12:10pm 12:55pm Lunch * 2:35pm Classes end * Kindergarten students may have a separate lunch break from the rest of the school at the beginning of the school year to help them with the transition. 2
R.M. GRAUER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CALENDAR 2015-2016 School Opening Day... Tuesday, September 8, 2015 Professional Development Day... Friday, September 25, 2015 Early Dismissal (11:50 am)... Wednesday October 7, 2015 Thanksgiving Day... Monday, October 12, 2015 Professional Development Day (Province-Wide)... Friday, October 23, 2015 Remembrance Day... Wednesday, November 11, 2015 Professional Development Day... Monday November 30, 2015 Report Cards Home (Term 1)... Friday December 4, 2015 Winter Vacation... Monday, December 21, 2015 to... Friday, January 1, 2016 (inclusive) School reopens after Winter Vacation... Monday, January 4, 2016 BC Family Day... Monday, February 8, 2016 Professional Development Day (District)... Friday, February 19, 2016 Early Dismissal (11:50am)... Wednesday, February 17, 2016 Report Cards Home (Term 2)... Thursday, March 10, 2016 Spring Vacation... Friday, March 11 to... Thursday, March 24, 2016 (inclusive) Good Friday... Friday, March 25, 2016 Easter Monday... Monday, March 28, 2016 School Re-opens after Spring/Easter Break... Tuesday, March 29, 2016 Professional Development Day (District-Wide)... Friday, April 22, 2016 Victoria Day... Monday, May 23, 2016 Report Cards Home (Term 3)... Tuesday, June 28, 2016 Professional Development Day... Wednesday, June 29, 2016 Year-end Administrative Day (last day for staff)... Thursday, June 30, 2016 DAYS IN SESSION - 187 3
Lunch Break A supervised lunch break is provided. We do not have the facilities to heat students food so please pack nutritious, easy to eat lunches. If a student wishes to eat lunch elsewhere than home or school, we ask that you send a note to the classroom teacher on that day indicating your permission for such an agreement. If your child usually stays at school, please provide a note to indicate that they are going home for lunch. In this way, you help ensure the safety of your child. Late Arrivals and Early Dismissals Students are requested to arrive at school no later than 8:40 AM in order to be prepared to start classes on time. Please be sure to contact the school using the safe arrival line if your child will be late or will not be attending classes for the day due to illness. If your child will be leaving classes early for an appointment, please notify the classroom teacher and/or the office. 604-668-7890 Grauer Office Phone: 668-604-6547 PLEASE SPEAK LOUDLY AND CLEARLY! Grauer School Improvement Goals 2015-2016 Last year the School Planning Council together with the school staff and parents identified the academic goal for the 2015-2016 school year: To enhance students literacy skills in numeracy. 4
Grauer Parent Advisory Council (PAC) One way you can help the school grow and realize its goals is by actively supporting and participating in your Parent Advisory Council. This organization is dedicated to helping the school provide the best education possible for its students. Parent Meetings (PAC) occur monthly, usually on Monday evenings. All parents are welcome to attend all meetings. Please call the Grauer office should you require more information about ways to become involved in the school. To fulfill its purpose, your Parent Advisory Council endeavors to: ü provide and improve communication between home and school; ü provide a forum for dialogue between parents and school concerning such things as school philosophy, motivational practices, programs and district and ministry initiatives; ü raise funds for special school projects and programs; ü advise the school on matters affecting the school activities and programs. GRAUER HEALTHY SCHOOL STATEMENT 2015-2016 Our Grauer community supports and promotes a positive, healthy and active environment. We view overall health to include components of social, mental and physical well-being. As a school, we are working to develop the attitudes, skills and knowledge necessary for our students that will enable them to have a healthy lifestyle. Where possible our students and parents participate and contribute with staff in the planning, implementation, assessment and evaluation of this aspect of our school. We ve committed ourselves to this statement. Specifically we are focusing on RESPECT. Our healthy school initiatives are intended to address: respect for self respect for others respect for our world 5
Grauer School Rules/Regulations and Richmond School District Policies Grauer School Code of Conduct In working toward the goal of individuals accepting responsibility for their actions, members of the Grauer community are assisted in valuing and demonstrating: courtesy and respect towards everyone in the school: teachers, support staff, parents, visitors and students. consideration for school property, and the personal property of others. safety awareness in the hallways, classrooms and playground. Common sense, good judgment, and appropriate decision making must prevail. Adults will assist students in resolving conflicts when necessary. When students step beyond the bounds of what is acceptable, they must accept responsibility for their actions. Consequences will reflect the offense and be applied in a fair and consistent manner, respecting and involving individual rights and responsibilities. Consequences may include discussions, detentions, loss of privileges, community service, parental contact and suspensions. Incidents involving disobedience, disrespect, the disruption of a learning situation, physically aggressive behavior or fighting, will involve administration. In such situations, particularly where student safety is compromised, it may be necessary for suspensions to occur. This will ensure that the offending students, and others, realize that certain actions are absolutely unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Rounding out our school Code of Conduct are the various expectations that are specific to each classroom/student. Specifically, at Grauer School we expect everyone to exhibit S.T.A.R. behaviour. 6
The letters of STAR stand for: SAFETY use equipment appropriately stay in designated areas walk watch where you are walking enter and exit gym in an orderly manner keep hands, feet and objects to yourself open doors slowly keep food on your desk keep on the right side when walking wash hands ACTION when I say I ll do it, I do it! get to school on time finish work on time organization not arguing with teachers look after myself and my belongings clean up my desk not making excuses follow rules dependable respect my body by being physically active respect my body by eating healthy respect my world clean up after yourself TEAMWORK agree on game rules before you start to play and follow them use appropriate language (no put downs) line up when the whistle blows follow adult directions get materials out and be prepared to work quickly take turns COMPROMISE solve problems RESPECT keep game rules the same during the game walk quietly so other students can continue learning enter classrooms quietly keep hands and feet to self make room for everyone to sit wait in line in order use polite words-please, thank you, may I?, excuse me clean up after yourself use calm voices listen to others 7
Grauer SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY FOUR AREAS OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY Accepting Others Solving Problems Being Helpful, Kind and Friendly Rights and Responsibilities FOUR LEVELS of BEHAVIOR RED, Stop Behaviour Level 1 Not Yet Meeting Expectations YELLOW, Be Careful Level 2 Minimally Meeting Expectations GREEN, Go Behaviour Level 3 Fully Meeting Expectations BLUE RIBBON, Wow! Level 4 Exceeding Expectations CARING SHARING (common solutions to problems that require sharing) (both people want to solve the problem and without help from an adult) Take Turns, Do It Together, Choose Something Else 8
ANGER MANAGEMENT (how to calm down) Positive Self Talk, Square Breathing, Count To Ten or Helpful (Green) Thoughts, Square Breathing, Count To Ten DEALING WITH PROBLEMS (primary) (teasing, arguing, bothering) WALK TALK SQUAWK Ignore, Tell the person to stop Get Help Walk Away, Report Choose to play Use Your Words (when other somewhere else (stand up for strategies yourself respectfully) haven t worked) DEALING WITH PROBLEMS (intermediate) (teasing, arguing, bothering) Ignore Leave (play somewhere else) Defuse/Agree (Upper Intermediate) Be Assertive Report/Get Help from an Adult 9
RICHMOND SCHOOL DISTRICT GUIDELINES FOR STUDENT BEHAVIOR Code of Conduct (Policy 502.1.1) The Board of School Trustees recognizes its obligation to all members of the school community to provide a positive climate and a safe, healthy environment such that effective, purposeful teaching and learning may take place. To that end it is expected that all members of the school community will conduct themselves in an ethical and lawful manner that demonstrates respect for self, others, property and the environment. A violation may warrant intervention or disciplinary action. It is expected that all members of the school community (staff, students, parents, and guests) will: respect the rights of others; respect the health and safety of others; respect the property of others - private and public; respect the legitimate authority of the school administrative officers and staff; respect and take pride in the schools' physical facilities; respect the diversity of the school community; respect the non smoking nature of district schools and property; respect the individual rules within each school; behave in an ethical and lawful manner; behave in a considerate and courteous manner; behave in a safe and responsible manner at all times; not threaten, harass, intimidate or assault, in any way, any person within the school community; and not be in possession of weapons, dangerous articles, alcohol, or illegal drugs while in school or at school functions. Student Behavior (Policy 502) The code of behavior expected from our students rests on three basic rules: respect for themselves; respect for others; respect for their own and others property. All detailed school regulations, bus rules, etc., will be logical extensions of these three basic expectations, and will be explained to children in those terms. Weapons Policy (Policy 502.3) The Board considers the possession of a weapon on or near school property or at school events as a threat to the safety and security of students and staff. Any student found to be in possession of a weapon will be subject to severe disciplinary action and/or criminal charges. A weapon shall be defined as anything used or intended for use in causing death or injury to persons, whether designed for that purpose or not, or anything used or intended for use for the purpose of threatening or intimidating any persons. Grauer Dress Code At Grauer School we do not have a formal uniform but students are expected to dress ready for learning and school activities. The attitude we bring to learning is reflected in the way in which we come dressed for it. Clothing worn by students must be appropriate and should not be distracting or offensive to others. For example: tank tops, bare midriffs, low cut tops, offensive language or logos, decorative head scarves or hats, revealing undergarments. 10
The community should have confidence that schools are places where people conduct themselves with purpose, respect and thoughtfulness. Cell Phones, MP3 Players, etc... This is a reminder that we are discouraging students from bringing valuables to school. The reasons are many, but to name a few, issues of loss, anti-social behaviour, explicit music and lyrics and safety come to mind. We realize that some parents equip their children with a cell phone. That is fine, with parent permission. Special forms are available in the office and must be filled out, signed and kept on file. Cell phones are not to be used in the school, or between 8:42 am and 2:35 pm. Homework Policy At Grauer, we believe the purpose of homework is to reinforce and to enhance the skills, attitudes and processes that will enable the student to become responsible, independent learners. J Homework strengthens and facilitates the connection and communication between home and school. It can be a vehicle to open conversations with children about what they are learning and how they are feeling about their learning in school. J Homework assignments are intended to contribute to the educational growth of the student and should not require the use of materials not readily available to the student. 11
Roles and Responsibilities Homework is one strategy for enhancing and broadening the home/school partnership. As partners in education - teachers, students and parents have roles and responsibilities to support success with homework. At Grauer we make use of a student planner as a two-way communication tool between home and school. Teacher in September, the teacher will communicate to parents and students the purpose and use of student planners will establish a homework routine using the student planner on a daily basis will regularly communicate classroom homework expectations to students and parents will provide a variety of learning activities that are appropriate for both the class and the individual student will regularly communicate, discuss and review expectations and evaluation methods for work assigned e.g., research and term projects will give clear, explicit instructions and feedback in a timely fashion will teach the necessary skills required to complete homework Student will use the student planner daily to record and organize homework will take student planner home daily to share with parents or guardians and obtain parent signature when requested will ensure that s/he knows what is expected and ask questions if unsure of assignment or how to do it will complete assignments to best of his/her ability will submit homework on time Parent will provide a conducive environment for work to be done at home will check the student planner and discuss the tasks with the child will assist student in developing time management skills so work is completed in manageable time blocks will communicate directly with the teacher when concerns arise will encourage and support students to complete homework independently At the primary level, homework will focus on literacy activities (spelling and home reading) and numeracy activities (counting, patterning, number facts, observation). 12
It should not extend beyond 15 minutes per day. As students progress in the primary grades other forms of homework activities may be added (gathering facts, book responses, problem solving). At the late primary level unfinished classroom work may be sent home. By the end of grade three, the time may increase to no more that 30 minutes in any one day, three or four days in a week. At the intermediate level, literacy and numeracy activities may continue as homework but the completion of work, review and extension of curriculum may be incorporated into the assigned work. As the student progresses through the grade and the grade levels, guided practice, skill review and homework may develop into more independent project work. In grade 4 and 5 homework should not usually exceed 30 minutes per day three or four times per week. In grade 6 it may increase to a maximum of 45 minutes three or four times a week and by grade 7 homework may involve 60 minutes of time some nights. From time to time concerns and issues may arise centered on homework. For example: your child is struggling with the concepts or assignments your child is over burdened with homework there is not time for outside and home activities your child is doing little or no homework difficulty with organizing and completing group project work It is important that parents communicate concerns to the teacher. Parents can communicate by telephone, notes in the planner, letters, email or an appointment with the teacher (as appropriate). If you feel your child needs more to do at home we encourage you to involve your child in the following activities. All of these are activities that promote thinking, learning and communicating: regular home-reading time talking with children playing cards and board games measuring while cooking collecting information from magazines visiting the library drawing to express ideas crossword and logic puzzles math games Lego building models 13
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