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AND PARENT INVOLVEMENT
SCHOOL COUNCIL AND PARENT INVOLVEMENT
Parent volunteers are an important part of the success
of Aurora School. There are many valuable ways parents can contribute
to the quality of learning at school. Help can include any of the
following:
- attendance at School Advisory Council meetings
- being a member of the School Advisory Council
executive
- classroom help (preparation of materials, one
on one reading help, etc.)
- the hot lunch program
- help with Book Fairs
- help with special events (eg. Winter Fun Day,
Track & Field, Gr. 5 camp)
- emergency fan-out phoning parents
- fund raising coordinators and general help
- supervision on field trips
- membership on various committees (eg. discipline,
budget)
- office or library help
- sharing of expertise related to curriculum topics
in the classroom
Wild Rose School Division requires that all volunteers have on file at the school a Criminal Record Check and a Child Welfare Intervention Check.
AURORA’S SCHOOL COUNCIL
(Everything You Always Wanted To Know But Were Afraid You Might Get Elected To The Executive)
ROLE OF THE COUNCIL?
- We serve as an advisory group to the principal. We offer perspective, suggestions, and raise concerns on any issue related to the operation and programs of the school.
- We raise money to offer or enhance a variety of programs at the school, e.g. hot lunch, Reading Expedition, playground equipment, Performing Arts Festival, etc.
WHO IS A MEMBER?
- Every parent with a child registered at the school is a member. That means you are already a member.
WHO CAN ATTEND MEETINGS AND WHO HAS THE RIGHT TO VOTE?
- Every parent with a child registered at the school. As well, members of the general public have attended from time to time, but cannot vote.
WHEN ARE THE MEETINGS?
- Generally, the meetings are held every third Thursday of the month, at 7 p.m., usually in the staffroom, and they last only 60 to 90 minutes. The date and time of the next meeting is always announced in the newsletter.
WHY SHOULD A PARENT ATTEND?
- Student success at school is a cooperative effort between the home and school. The School Council is an excellent source of information and a forum for views to help with the delivery of the curriculum and school programs. Your involvement offers you insight and a say in your child’s education.
WHAT ROLES CAN PARENTS FILL THROUGH THE SCHOOL COUNCIL?
- Simply by attending the meetings you are filling a valuable role. As well, if you are interested, each September a new executive is elected: president, vice president, treasurer, secretary, volunteer coordinator, hot lunch coordinator, kindergarten representative, and year book coordinator. Also, the council needs volunteers to help with the hot lunch program. Generally, hot lunch volunteers help one day per week for 2 to 3 hours before the lunch recess.
WHY IS THIS PAGE BEING SENT HOME?
- At the last meeting we had only five parents attend. We didn’t have any ‘new’ parents out. If this council is to meet its two primary purposes (see above) we must have parents out representing every grade.
PRESIDENT – Leah Thebeau
VICE PRESIDENT – Jody Gardiner
SECRETARY –Kelly Adamkowski
TREASURER – Shannon Hutchinson
HOT LUNCH COORDINATOR – Danielle Jonzon
VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR – Shannon Pascoe
KINDERGARTEN REP. – Kaya Faulkner
The following 10 values were determined by the Aurora School Council over a course of several months during the 2001/2002 school year. They are not in any specific order. The Aurora School Council values:
- a safe and caring
environment where all children feel accepted
- involved parents and a strong School Council
- a broad program exposing children to a variety
of learning opportunities to
promote emotional, academic, social, and
physical well-being (ie. Multiple intelligence and enrichment opportunities,
extra-curricular opportunities, etc.)
- a family atmosphere promoting enjoyment of
learning and fellowship
- high academic standards revolving around
literacy and the library and
minimizing class sizes
- friendliness and high morale of staff (ie.
Small class sizes, availability of
resources, etc.)
- strong, consistent discipline
- standardized report card grading
- a safe, clean facility and grounds
- strong, collaborative school leadership
HELPING YOUR CHILD LEARN
The following are general suggestions that would benefit every student. For more specific suggestions or resources, see your child’s teacher.
READING:
- from the moment a child is born they are acquiring language skills
- reading to a child at any age is beneficial even if they seem too
young to understand the story. Reading to a child helps:
- create an attitude that reading is an enjoyable part of daily life
- demonstrate the flow of language
- form a bond of sharing between reader and listener
- introduce the culture of stories
- increase vocabulary
- introduce and reinforce: language structure, letter and word
recognition, vocal modulation and cadences
- give cultural references and relationships
- introduce and reinforce that books provide information as
well
as entertain
- once a child is old enough to be able to respond: discuss the story,
stop once in a while to guess what will happen next, ask comprehension
questions (who, what, where, when, why, how), together write a new chapter
or a new story using the same characters
GAMES:
- games are a very effective way to have fun, teach math and language
skills, and to teach social skills
- children quickly learn and practice:
- number skills
- taking turns
- winning graciously, losing politely
- cooperative skills
- logical thinking, forming strategies, problem solving
- a variety of math concepts
- most any game will do, be careful to match the game with the readiness/ability
of the child
- many games can be modified to suit the child by changing the rules
or length of time played, eg. monopoly can be played for 45 minutes,
a cribbage board can be used simply to count out values on dice or cards
SOME SUGGESTED GAMES
For rules for any of these games see Mr. Vickers.
- War (teaches number order and comparative values)
- 99 (teaches basic adding, forming strategies)
- Cribbage modified (teaches number values, counting to 10)
- Cribbage (teaches addition, forming strategies, decision making)
- Monopoly (teaches money skills, adding/subtracting, multiplication)
- Checkers (teaches basic geometry, forming strategies, planning ahead)
- Chess (teaches planning ahead, forming strategies, logical thinking)
- Labyrinth (forming strategies, planning ahead, pattern recognition)
- Math War (teaches basic number facts)
- Fish (teaches concentration skills, memory strategies)
- Memory (teaches concentration skills, memory strategies)
- Scrabble (teaches vocabulary, forming strategies, common letter combinations)
- Life (teaches values, decision making, money skills)
- Sorry (teaches counting skills, logical thinking, forming strategies)
- Risk (teaches basic world geography, logical thinking, forming strategies)
- Mastermind (teaches logical thinking)
- Rumoli (teaches sequencing numbers)
- Trouble (teaches basic counting, forming strategies)
There are countless other effective games.
A broader term for logical thinking and forming strategies is Problem Solving. This is a crucial skill for children to learn since as adults we spend a lot of our time problem solving, whether its deciding what to have for dinner and how to prepare it, or how to balance our life style with our income, or how to cooperate with our neighbours and co-workers to improve our neighbourhood or productivity.
- just by playing, all these games improve language skills
If you have a good game please share it with us. We will add it
to our own repertoire.