SMPS, SHS welcome children, parents / guardians to learn more about their kindergarten programs
Tim Brody - Editor
Both Sioux Mountain Public School and Sacred Heart School welcomed prospective kindergarten students and their parents / guardians into their kindergarten classrooms to give them an opportunity to find out more about the programs and how to register for kindergarten classes in September.
Sioux Mountain Public School held its Kindergarten Open House on February 26.
Sacred Heart School held its Kindergarten Open House on February 28.
SMPS kindergarten teacher Natalie Northway shared, “It’s really nice to get to know the children by name and face and play with them while they are in the classroom. Everybody feels comfortable being here in the school.”
“It’s been really nice,” she added. “We’ve had quite a few families come in and register and we look forward to seeing them in the fall.”
Commenting on the school’s kindergarten programs she shared, “We offer a play-based learning experience for all children where you can explore the classroom at your will and meet friends and play and just have fun.”
SHS kindergarten teacher Elena Soulias commented, “It’s been a busy morning… It’s just so great to see their smiling faces. The kids are coming in and they’re exploring right away. It’s wonderful.”
Commenting of the open house she shared, “The students get to explore. They get to have snack time… they’re building in the block centre… they were playing with Play-Doh today, drawing; we’re naming our favorite animals… They get a real day of what it feels like to be in kindergarten.”
SMPS Vice-Principal Barbara Van Diest said, “We have a number of community partners that are here tonight and they have different activities happening. We have a Firefly speech language pathologist and Healthy Smiles (Northwestern Health Unit). We have a number of different people from North Words (also NWHU) and in the classrooms we also have a number of activities that our staff are putting on to help with fine and gross motor movement and letter recognition, all that fun stuff that kids do in kindergarten.”
She continued, “We have our ECE’s here tonight as well as some of our education assistants and of course we have our teaching staff here as well, so the parents get to meet everybody.”
Van Diest said parents can register their children for kindergarten anytime at www.buddysystem.ca.
“Parents can come at any time to Sioux Mountain to register their child for next school year if they don’t want to do the online,” she added. “We’re always really open to visits. Parents and children are always welcome.”
The school currently has four kindergarten classrooms.
“Children have access to all the activities that happen in the school, the cultural activities, the physical education and of course all of the academic activities. It’s really wonderful to be able to offer that to children and their families,” she informed.
“Our kindergarten students also have the opportunity to participate in an offshoot of our hockey academy program. Kids have the opportunity to go once a week for skating, building hockey skills,” she added.
Van Diest said parents / guardians can contact the school for more information about their kindergarten programs (737-3480). “Feel free to call us and we will be more than happy to answer,” she said.
SHS Vice-Principal Kim Savoie shared, “Kindergarten Registration Week ran February 25 to March 1. We still accept registrations after that date of course, but it’s an opportunity for families to come into the school. Today in particular our classrooms are open and children and families can come in and experience our kindergarten program in action. What it looks like. What it feels like. The activities that take place, how we as a community are Christ centred. It’s a wonderful opportunity for the program to speak for itself because it is a phenomenal program.”
The school currently has four kindergarten classrooms.
“Families have the option to visit both the French immersion classes and the English classrooms and also an opportunity to talk to the teachers, talk to some of the students, talk to the staff here on site and tour the facility,” Savoie said.
Parents / guardians can also register their children online at http://registration.tncdsb.on.ca.
“It’s the first time we’re offering an online registration system. So parents now have that opportunity to do the preliminary registration online and then once they’ve done that, they need to come down to the school and do the final check in period to finalize the registration process,” Savoie said.
“Families are also welcome to stop by the school and they can do the whole process on site here. We are happy to assist them in any way and answer any questions they might have.
“We also have an event coming up, it will be in May, all registrants and their families will be invited back for our annual Welcome to Kindergarten Night, which will be another opportunity for families to meet our staff, our kindergarten team, and our administrators and take another look in the classrooms and get a better idea of expectations for September and how to prepare their child for school,” she commented.
Savoie added, “At any time parents are welcome to contact me here at the school (737-1121) and I can set up a tour and drop in of the classrooms. We welcome families from our community to come in and check out what we’re doing, because we’re doing some amazing stuff here in the building.”
She concluded, “We’ve had lots of great smiles coming in the building and it’s always a joyful day to see the new faces down in the kindergarten classrooms and to see their joy and excitement… I think our programs, when you see them for yourselves, they speak for themselves. They are child centred. They focus on the child as a learner and we support that learning in everything that we do. They’re inquiry based. They have a chance to explore and to grow.”
