This week, the students at W. Erskine Johnston P.S. attended an assembly that reintroduced them to the school-wide program that we started three years called WITS. The WITS program brings together schools, families, and the community to create a responsive environment that helps elementary school children deal with bullying and peer victimization. Today, the WITS programs have spread to more than 600 schools across Canada and the United States, earning endorsements from several authors and organizations.

WITS Primary Program (For K-3):

• Stands for Walk away, Ignore, Talk it out and Seek help.
• Teaches Kindergarten to Grade 3 children to make safe and positive choices about peer conflict.
• The program provides a common language children and the adults in their environment can use to talk about and respond to peer victimization.

 LEADS Program (For Grades 4-6):

• Stands for Look and listen, Explore points of view, Act, Did it work? and Seek help.
• Teaches problem-solving strategies to help Grade 4-6 children deal with conflict and stay safe.
• Provides developmentally appropriate strategies and resources to older elementary so they can become WITS Leaders in their school.

Look & Listen

• Develop an understanding of what can be learned about others’ feelings, intentions, and inner thoughts by carefully observing their behaviours and nonverbal expressions, and by listening to others

Explore Points of View

• Understand others’ points of view
• See how words, thoughts and feelings can vary for different people
• Look and listen to words, thoughts and feelings
• Learn to understand indirect or relational aggression

Act

• Identify conflicts that involve direct aggression (hitting, pushing, threatening) or relational aggression (excluding people, ignoring, spreading rumours, teasing) by looking and listening
• Brainstorm and act out solutions to identified conflicts

Did it Work?

• Identify the short- and long-term consequences of actions chosen to deal with a conflict
• Identify factors that suggest a solution has worked
• Demonstrate social responsibility by solving problems and resolving conflicts in peaceful ways
• Learn to exercise democratic rights and responsibilities
• Recognize different types of bullying and the roles of bystanders in refusing and reporting it
• Learn effective leadership skills

Seek Help

• Learn when to seek help from an adult and when to handle a problem independently
• Learn to use the WITS LEADS problem solving skills together
• Learn to identify and solve problems

Remember that telling is not tattling. If you’re faced with bullying and you walk away to get help, you are helping to make your school and your community a safe and fun place for kids to be!

The Buddy Bench is a simple idea to eliminate loneliness and foster friendships on the playground. It promotes the message of inclusion and kindness in the school community. Our school purchased three Buddy Benches last year for our school yard thanks to funds raised at our Halloween Family Fun Night! These special benches have been installed in different areas throughout the yard.

On Monday, the students and staff were re-introduced to the Buddy Bench during our WITS assembly.

Rules for Using the Buddy Benches

Before you sit on a Buddy Bench, think of something you would like to do. Ask someone else to play with you first.

If you can’t find someone to play with, sit on one of the Buddy Benches.

While you’re sitting on the bench, look around for a game you can join. If you see something you want to do or a friend you want to talk to, get off the bench and join them! You can leave the Buddy Bench at any time.

If you’re sitting on a Buddy Bench, play with the first person who comes to the bench and invites you to play with them. At WEJ, you can’t say you can’t play! It’s also the polite thing to do!

Keep playing with your new friends during future recesses. Hopefully, you will not need to use the Buddy Bench often!

If you are already playing with friends and you see someone sitting on a Buddy Bench, ask that person to play with you.

Remember, the bench isn’t for socializing or for resting. Only sit there if you can’t find anyone to play with.

The W. Erskine Johnston Primary Team is excited to present the live performer YAKI to our gymnasium on Friday, December 7th. The children will be privy to songs and poems and a morning of exciting entertainment. Yaki will even be performing some of his work from the showcase show that he is putting on at Centerpointe Theatre! The concert runs from 9:40am to 10:35am.

The cost for this show is $2.00. Funds raised go to the Kanata Food Cupboard.

Please review with your child what being an excellent and engaged audience member means.

Dear WEJ Families,

We in the WEJ WE club are proud to be a part of Snowsuit Fund initiative that was presented at our annual WITS assembly. The Snowsuit Fund provides warm snowsuits and other winter accessories for children who cannot afford them in our community.

From November 30 to December 4, 2018 we will be collecting donations by our front door. These clothing pieces, such as scarves, gloves, hats, snowsuits and jackets, can be brand new or lightly used and clean. Please bring items to school for this worthy cause.  You can also donate gift cards to Walmart, Carter’s or Mark’s for purchasing new winter wear.

We believe that every child should be able to go out and play with their friends outside, even when it is cold! With our school’s help, we can help out those in need all around the community.

Thank you,

WEJ WE Club

This holiday season why not give the gift of reading? I have received some emails asking if I could keep orders aside and parents will pick up themselves when the books have arrived. YES! I will do that for you. What a great gift idea! This months scholastic orders are due to me by Monday, December 3rd.  Send your orders in via a sealed envelope if you want to keep the books a secret from you lil’ munchkin!

 Starting this week, your child will be learning about patterns: both repeating patterns and growing or shrinking patterns. The goal will be for your child to identify, describe, extend, and create patterns. For repeating patterns, the focus will be on naming attributes of patterns and how those attributes change. The focus for growing or shrinking patterns will be on the start number and the amount that is added or subtracted each time.

Throughout this time, you and your child may engage in activities such as the following:

• Your child can look around for repeating patterns and create a list of these. They can ask and answer questions about the patterns, such as “What attributes are changing in the pattern?” (for example, colour and size) and “How are those attributes changing?” (for example, colour: blue, purple, blue, purple, repeat; size: small, big, big, small, repeat) and “What is the part of the pattern that repeats (the pattern core)?”
• Your child can decorate items using repeating patterns. For example, they can create their own notepaper or cards by making a repeating pattern around the edge. They can use shapes, names, and colours for these patterns.

Your child can make and use a 100 chart at home to show growing or shrinking patterns. For example, they can start with an item that costs $4, then add eleven $3 items to the “bill.” (They can use the repeat function on a calculator, if possible, to find each new number.) After they mark the numbers on the 100 chart with counters or circles, they can describe the pattern they see and explain the pattern rule.

I hope everyone is at home safe and sound. It was a rough ride in! Friendly reminder that students should be working on their Extra, Extra news article assignment for Social Studies that went home on Tuesday of this week. Presentations will begin on Tuesday, November 20th!

I hope everyone had an opportunity today to take a moment and either sit and reflect or attend one of the many memorial services that took place within the city to remember our fallen soldiers. After a week of listening to a variety of read alouds (for example, In Flander’s Fields, A Poppy is to Remember, A Bear in War), watching videos, experiencing a moving presentation by a guest speaker (see shadow box picture below), and creating their own Remembrance Day artwork, the students have developed a deeper understanding of what war is really all about and the sacrifice made by those in battle. Please remember to send your child to school tomorrow (Monday) wearing black pants and a white or red top as they will be performing during our school Remembrance Day ceremony. Thank-you.

Below are pictures of the beautiful paintings the students completed last week. Remember to click on them to enlarge them!

Progress report cards are coming home tomorrow! Please remember that these reports are only a snap shot of your child’s academic and social skills, it is still early in the school year and there is always room for progress to be made.

In the progress report you will also find a step by step instruction note outlining how to sign up for parent-teacher interviews. Interviews are slated for the evening of November 22nd and morning of November 23rd. They are 15 minute intervals and I am looking forward to meeting with most of you. For some parents of whom I’ve already met with, you may choose to skip this set of interviews as we have been in steady contact. For those of you who’s children are progressing well (PW) in all areas, I would love to meet you too, however if the timing is just not quite right, please remember that I do have an open door policy and will meet with you any time that suits you and your family lifestyle best.

I want to take this opportunity to send a heart felt thank you out to all of the parents for your hard work with your child’s education, for your kind and supportive emails, donations off of our wish list to the classroom and positive blog feedback.

Warm regards and appreciation,

Ms. Lewis