by Amore du Toit
Wednesday, Sept. 1 marked the beginning of another exciting educational year at Stettler Elementary School.
The hallways were full of chattering students, parents and teachers. The excitement was almost tangible as students examined class lists to see who their new teacher would be. Brightly decorated doorways welcomed students back – with themes such as Mrs. Fischer’s Un’FROG’getable theme display to the mischievous monkeys on Mrs. Lang’s door and the shining stars on Mrs. Starling’s door. Each teacher outdid themselves in decorating their classrooms to make students feel excited about the new school year.
Mr. Olafson’s class even welcomed a remarkable “class pet” to enhance the student’s enjoyment of school. Grade 5SO‘s new pet is named Squirt and he is a garden gnome. Students worked together to select the name from an initial list of over a thousand names. Squirt is excited to spend time with all students this year and wants to experience many new things. His first out of school trip was to the mountains during the long weekend. We will keep everyone posted on what new things Squirt experiences throughout the year.
Ms. Watts’ Grade 1 class also has an unusual pet called Nala – a lion-head rabbit. Students are so excited to take care of Nala. These pets are not the only new addition to our staff.
Our school would like to welcome our very talented music teacher Mrs. Kirby and our energetic gym teacher Mrs. Jill Neitz back from maternity leave. We are thrilled to have Mrs. Bonnie Lynn return to join the A-team. We’d also like to welcome two new Grade 1 teachers, Mrs. Kelly Lang and Mrs. Kerry Petersen.
We are so happy to have five Grade 1 classes which means smaller class sizes and more individualized instruction. Mrs. Petersen will be with us until Mrs. Terry Jackson joins our staff again. We miss her and await her complete recovery. Mrs. Smith’s grade four classes would like to welcome Molly Nelson and Hailie Kalkman to Stettler elementary. The class is busy learning about the importance of following the three Rs: reduce, reuse, and recycle. They would like to ask all SES parents to help reduce the amount of lunch garbage in the school by using reusable containers instead of plastic bags and over-packaged lunchables.
Students were excited to get back to library class this past week. Our library is implementing a new circulation program this year. The Maplewood program is easy for kids to use, and has many features that will help students keep track of the library books they have signed out. If you do come across any unreturned library books at home, please return them to the school. We are so proud of all our “book worms”.
Our beautiful new kindergarten students also enjoyed a great “treasure hunt” – looking for Chester the raccoon. Although they could not find Chester they were lucky enough to find some sweet treats. All teachers and staff at SES look forward to a year that promises to be a ’sweet treat’ full of learning, friends and wonderful new experiences. ”.
We would also like to remind all parents of our special open house on Thursday night at 6.30 p.m. at the gym. Please come and meet your child’s teacher. You are also invited to stay for the outside movie, weather permitting.