mountain view news - Almadina Language Charter Academy

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MARCH - APRIL 2015
MOUNTAIN VIEW NEWS
ALMADINA LANGUAGE CHARTER ACADEMY
Important Dates
Principal’s Message
Dear Parents,
We have just completed our
second round of Parent
Teacher interviews. It was
great to see so many parents
attending in order to review
student learning and do goal
setting for the future.
We continue to receive many
calls regarding registration for
the next school year. Please
monitor the website as all
important registration details
are posted there. There are a
few families who still need to
register their continuing
students for next year. It is very
important to do this so that we
know how many spots are
available for each grade next
year. We use this information to
plan for classes and staffing.
We are excited to share some
staffing news. Firstly, we have
recently added an Educational
Assistant to our campus. Her
name is Ms. Benzaid, she has a
degree in Linguistics and will
help support our students with
their reading and writing
needs. Secondly, we have
added a School Counselor who
will serve both campuses.
Her name is Ms. QuinlanJacob. She has lots of
experience helping students
and staff in schools. She will
be able to help students who
need support at both the
Ogden and Mountain View
campuses. Please welcome
both of our latest staff
members!
As we head to Spring Break,
please be aware that your
child can access both RAZ
Kids and Mathletics sites over
the break to maintain their
reading and numeracy skills.
To help with writing, your
child can use journals to
record new experiences to
share when they return to
school. Regular library visits
for story times are also fun
over the holiday break.
Thank you for supporting
learning at home.
Sincerely,

March 21st - 30th Spring Break

March 31st Registration - New
Family and Siblings

April 3rd - Good
Friday - No School

April 16th - Empathy
Assembly, 8:50 am

April 17th - May 28th Self Control

May 15th - Early
Dismissal

May 18th - Victoria
Day- No School

June 4th - Year End
Virtue Celebration
Inside this issue:
Principal‟s Message
1
Parent Information
2
Virtues Update
3
Technology Update
4
Pink Shirt Day/
ELL Coordinator
5
Fundraisers /
Classrooms
6
Shakila Raja
Principal
Published by: Ms.Marr, Mrs.Beech, Mrs.Sondergaard,
Mrs.Chambers, Ms.Hutchinson
PARENT INFORMATION
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News from the School Council
Reminders
Registration
Please register your children
who are not currently enrolled
for the 2015-2016 school year
immediately.
Bus fees for the next school
year are now due.
Lost and Found
Please remind your child to
check the lost and found bin for
any clothes that have gone
missing over the year. We have
a lot of clothing that we would
like returned to their owners!
The School Council is having a movie
night on Friday, April 24th for Mountain View
students, in the MV Gymnasium. A letter to parents
for Movie Night will be sent on March 31, 2015.
The School Council will be providing a Hot Lunch
once a month starting in April. Letters will be sent
home soon and all the money raised will go to
support different Almadina school projects.
Blood Drive: March 27th, 2015
If you know someone who would like to donate
blood, speak to Mr. Javed or Mr. Chaudhry
Javed Anjum
403-617-7057 [email protected]
Talat Chaudhry 403-616-4121 [email protected]
Spring Break Ideas
We are starting to get some spring-like weather in Calgary! Here are some activity
ideas for you and your children during spring break:
-Leisure Centres
-The Calgary Library
-The Calgary Zoo
-Heritage Park
-Go swimming!
-Visit the Glenbow Museum
-Tree House Playground
-Go for a spring walk and look
for signs of spring!
-The Calgary Airport
-Telus Spark Science Centre
-Bow Habitat Station
Please click here or go to the following website for additional
Calgary spring break ideas for 2015:
http://calgaryplaygroundreview.com/2015/03/calgary-spring-break-ideas-2015.html
VIRTUE UPDATE
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Respect Assembly a Great Success!
With every successful assembly comes weeks of planning,
preparation, and practice. Students from Mrs. Beech‟s, Ms. Marr‟s,
Mrs. Haziri‟s, Mrs. Chambers, and Mr. Goodman‟s classes showed us
that hard work does pay off as they gave memorable performances
through song and drama.
It was great to see everyone wearing pink to support
national Anti-Bullying Day. Almadina students, staff, and teachers did
a fantastic job demonstrating the importance of treating others with
respect, kindness, and consideration. The presence of
virtuous leaders in our school is impressive!
Thank you to the parents who came out to enjoy
the show and support our children in becoming
the best that they can be.
Congratulations to all the Respect virtue winners!
Empathy Cards for
Caring at Almadina
On April 24th, Mrs.
Chaulk, Ms. Sondergaard, Ms. Khandani, Ms.
Vickers, and Mrs. Pollett
will deliver “Cards for
Caring” to the Alberta
Children‟s Hospital.
These cards were made
by our students and will
be given to the children
staying at the hospital to
help bring a smile to
their faces. Thank you
Almadina students for
showing that you care
about others!
This Month’s Virtue: Empathy
At the root of being a
kind, compassionate, and
respectful individual is
our capacity to show and
experience empathy.
Here at Almadina, we
believe an essential part
of teaching our students
effective problem solving
skills is the importance of
understanding others‟
perspective. In doing so,
our students will
recognize that similar
experiences are shared
among us all. Empathy
helps us see that
someone else's pain is as
meaningful as our own. It
also helps us celebrate in
each others joy and
heartfelt experiences.
The positive school
atmosphere here at
Almadina shows that we
are always found walking
in each other‟s shoes.
E MPATHY A SSEMBLY:
A PRIL 1 6 TH, 2 01 5
8:50 AM
“Putting
yourself in
someone
else‟s shoes to
understand
and share
their feelings,
emotions, and
experiences.”
Technology Update from Ms. Reid
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Be a Part of Your Child’s Learning By Using Technology!
Parents will often ask the question: “How can I help my child at home?”. There are many different websites that can help you to
help your child. Here is a list of family friendly websites that Almadina is using, that you can also use at home. Some of the websites also have Apps that can be used on a tablet or phone. Keep this list next to your computer or with your mobile device.
Website name
RAZ-Kids
Website Link
https://www.raz-kids.com
Description
Students from Kindergarten to Grade 5 have RAZ-Kids
accounts. It is a place where children can read aloud
and listen to reading.
Your child‟s teacher has an account for your child.
You can set up an account also and can receive
information on how your child is doing with this tool.
Talk to your child‟s teacher or go to:
https://www.raz-kids.com/main/ParentLogin/
parentEmail/ for more information.
Discovery
Education
http://www.discoveryeducation.ca/Canada/
Created by Discovery Education this website has
great resources for the whole family on many topics!
There are: pictures, videos, encyclopedia entries
and more!
Explore this website with your child. Children in
grades 2 to 5 have their own username and passwords
which allows them to explore more. Ask your child‟s
teacher for the login information.
Sirs Discoverer
http://ars.sirs.com/discoverer.html
Sirs Discoverer is a great website for research. Once
logged in you can search for: images and articles.
The articles can be narrowed down to suit the reading
level of the student.
Username: 4788412H
Password: T2A 5K4 (There is a space between „A‟ and
„5‟)
Tumble Books
http://www.tumblebooklibrary.com/
An online library of books that students can read. The
school login is:
username: almadina
password: books
Word Central
http://wordcentral.com/
An online dictionary that includes a rhyming
dictionary and a thesaurus.
Word Smyth
http://www.wordsmyth.net/
An online dictionary that can narrow down the search
for words as either beginner, intermediate or
advanced.
Searching the Web
http://www.safesearchkids.com/
Kid friendly search engine by Google. Far better than
using Google for your students to search with.
CBC Kids
http://www.cbc.ca/kids/
A great Canadian Kids website by the CBC.
BBC Kids
http://www.cbeebies.com/global/
Two great websites from the BBC that include a
variety of subjects and video.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/levels
(KS1, KS2,Early level and first level)
For Parents: Here are some websites to help you do research for your family on age appropriate games, movies or TV shows:
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/ and http://www.esrb.org/
Almadina celebrates Pink Shirt Day
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On February 25th, Almadina
held our Respect assembly in
conjunction with Pink Shirt
Day. The story of Pink Shirt
Day began in Nova Scotia
when a Grade 9 boy was
bullied for wearing pink. Antibullying events are now held
yearly in and around Canada.
Almost everyone at Almadina
was wearing pink to show we
are all equal and how
together we can stand up to
bullying.
More information can be
found at
www.pinkshirtday.ca
News from our ELL Coordinator
Dear Parents,
“Spring is
when you
feel like
whistling
even with a
shoe full of
slush”
Doug Larson
Spring has arrived. Trees
will blossom; the flowers
will bud, the grass will be
greener. It is that perfect
time of the year where
evidence of the beginning
of the new cycle of life is,
by nature, evident. This
new cycle will provide the
best opportunity for our
children to learn about it,
embrace it, and enjoy it.
Further, this will bring an
excellent opportunity for
family members to spend
great quality time
together.
It all starts during our
school‟s Spring Break. This
is the time when we can
gather strength and
thoughts and be a positive
contributor to this life
cycle. How and where? We
can start by creating a
garden right at home. Don‟t
be surprised because in
our beautiful home city of
Calgary, despite the
question:
uncertainty in the weather,

Build and improve your
we can always start
children‟s vocabularies
harvesting our gardens.
by describing what they
We can use this event to
see happening in the
spend that time with our
garden.
children and in addition,
read with them about

Ask your children to draw
spring.
or paint pictures of plants
as they grow, and write
What a beautiful
down what they observe.
combination! Physical,
emotional, and educational

Learn the names of some
activities: all in one.
plants and flowers.
Gardening in our yards,
spending quality family

Read stories to children
time together, learning via
about gardening, such
hands on experience and
as “The Little Red
also by reading about it in
Hen” by P. Galdone
books are just some of the
and “The Carrot Seed” by
great examples. Thus, you
Ruth Krauss.
may ask: What learning
activities am I going to
perform with my children
Happy Spring Season and Spring
that would make this
Break everyone.
experience an astounding
success?
Rabih El-Masri
I hope that the following
ELL Coordinator
might be helpful in finding
a solution to your
Jump Rope for Heart Fundraiser
In February, our
school took part
in Jump Rope for
Heart. This
fabulous
fundraiser helps
raise awareness
about heart
health. It
encourages
students to jump
rope or just be active in any
way, in order to keep their
hearts happy.
students in a variety of
skipping activities. Some
amazing talents were
displayed and developed as
students learned how to jump
rope like professionals.
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Malik‟s ECS class who
together raised $230.00! The
student who raised the most
money was Rayan, also in Ms.
Malik‟s class with $175.00!
Students didn‟t just jump
around, they also raised
money for the Heart and
Stroke Foundation! Our
entire school raised
$1713.55; that is $200
MORE than last year! Great
job Almadina!
The class that raised the
most money was Ms.
In D.P.A. Mr. Cooper led
Intramurals
Another fierce round of intramurals was held during lunch hour
at Almadina. The Grade Three‟s participated in the intense game
of King‟s Court dodge ball. It is a game of strategy and teamwork
that keeps you moving! Congratulations to Team 6 for winning
the tournament. They played the staff and this time, the teachers
REALLY had to work hard to keep up. Thanks for a great round of
intramurals. Floor Hockey is up next, right after Spring Break!
Classroom Extras
On March 6th, Constable Dan came to visit each of the
Grade One classes. It was very exciting for the students
to have a visit from a community helper! He taught them
about some of the important tools that he uses every
day, and the different ways that police officers help our
community. He talked to the students about safety, and
when it is important to call 9-1-1. The Grade One‟s were
very curious and asked Constable Dan many questions
about his job. It was a great visit, and we were very
appreciative for having him come to speak to us!