January 2015 Newsletter - Pine Street Elementary

The Pine Street Press
133 PINE STREET
SHERWOOD PARK, AB
T8A 1H2
OFFICE: (780)467-2246
FAX: (780)464-2761
WWW.PINESTREET.CA
A TRADITION OF PRIDE
AND EXCELLENCE
Dates to Remember
Jan.13—Parent Council Mtg.
6:30
Jan.16—Hot Chocolate Day
Jan. 23—Hot Lunch
Jan.24—Gr. 6 Leadership
@ Hope Mission
Jan.29– Gr. 6 Ski Trip to
Sunridge
Jan.30—School Closure Day
*Note—various classes are
swimming—please see inside for details.
Bell Schedule Gr. 1-6
Entrance Bell
8:20
Classes Begin
8:30
Noon Dismissal
11:41
Januar y 9, 2015
Register for Kindergarten
Registrations for Kindergarten are currently being accepted for children within our
boundary. To determine if you live within the Pine Street School attendance area,
please call the school at 780-467-2246 or Elk Island Public Schools, at 464-3477 or
visit the School Locator on the Elk Island Public Schools website.
Children are eligible to register for the upcoming school year if they will be five years
old on or before December 31, 2015. Please bring your child’s birth certificate or passport in order to complete the registration process. This documentation must be provided before the first day of school.
Check out the Elk Island Public Schools division website at www.eips.ca/kindergarten
for information about Kindergarten programs, registration details, and division information. The 2015-2016 Kindergarten guide, Kindergarten, It’s Only the Beginning, is
also available online and in free magazine racks throughout the community. Our
school website, www.pinestreet.ca, also provides specific details about our Kindergarten program.
There is a fee for Kindergarten noon hour busing. Children attending a full-day Kindergarten program would access regular student busing at the beginning and end of
each day.
Afternoon Classes
12:27
Please join us on Wednesday, May 20th at 6:30 pm for our Kindergarten Information
Night to meet the staff and take a school tour.
Afternoon Dismissal
3:15
Kindergarten Options at Pine Street School for 2015-2016
We are exploring the option of running two full-day Kindergarten programs, along
with one morning, and afternoon half-day program at Pine Street School for the 20152016 school year.
Early Dismissal
(Gr. 1-6)
Entrance Bell
8:20
Classes Begin
8:30
Noon Dismissal
11:41
Afternoon Classes
12:27
Afternoon Dismissal
3:15
ECS—Regular Day
AM Classes
Dismissal
PM Classes
Dismissal
Note: No ECS first
Wed. of every month
8:35
11:25
12:16
3:15
The half-day program would run every day, Monday to Friday, either in the morning
or the afternoon. The full-day program would run either on Monday and Thursday,
and alternating Wednesdays, or Tuesday and Friday, and alternating Wednesdays.
When parents come to register their child for Kindergarten, they will be asked to state
their preference: half-day program (morning or afternoon) or full-day program
(Monday and Thursday, alternating Wednesdays, or Tuesday and Friday, alternating
Wednesdays). We will do our best to honour parents’ preferences, however there is no
guarantee.
The decision to offer a full-day Kindergarten program for 2015-2016 will be made later this spring, dependent on whether the required enrolment numbers are reached for
two full classes. If it is not reached, we will return to offering two morning and two
afternoon programs. We will notify all parents as soon as the decision is made. If you
have any questions, please contact our principal, Evelyn Gaudet.
Boundary Exemption Request Process
Elk Island Public Schools (EIPS) reminds families that the boundary exemption request process will take place February
17 to March 13, 2015 for students who want to attend a non-designated school in the 2015-2016 school year. During
this time, interested families must fill out and submit the Boundary Exemption Request Form (found on the EIPS website
at the beginning of February) to the requested school.
More information about the boundary exemption request process, key dates, a list of schools with closed boundaries,
and frequently asked questions will be available on the division website (www.eips.ca/boundary-exemptions) in January 2015.
Please note—Because of our high enrollment, Pine Street School will have closed boundaries for the 2015-16 school
year, and will therefore not be accepting boundary exemption requests.
Inclement Weather
With winter weather upon us, we would like to take this opportunity to remind parents to dress children appropriately
for the weather when getting ready for school or the bus. The weather often changes unexpectedly throughout the
day, so please select suitable outerwear and ensure your child is prepared for changing conditions.
Should inclement weather conditions occur, Elk Island Public Schools (EIPS) will advise parents of bus cancellations
using various communications tools, including automated telephone messages, details posted on the division home
page (www.eips.ca), in the Bus Status section of our division and school websites, on our main switchboard (780-4643477), on Twitter, and through local radio stations.
If the decision to suspend buses is made the night before, automated messages will not be sent out to parents later
than 9:00 p.m. If the decision to suspend buses is made in the early morning hours, the automated message will be
sent out at 5:30 a.m.
EIPS administrative procedures state bus service may be suspended when the temperature reaches
-40°C including wind chill factor as measured by Environment Canada at 5:00 a.m. and/or due to adverse weather or
road conditions. Bus service may be suspended on a region-by-region or route-by-route basis. When school bus services are suspended, schools shall remain open to students.
EIPS believes parents have the right and responsibility to make choices for their children based on their beliefs and
perceptions of safety during times of inclement weather. Parents must use discretion when sending children to school
during inclement weather, even when buses are running and schools are open.
If you do not wish to receive these messages, please contact our Student Transportation office at 780-417-8151 or by
email at [email protected]. For more information or if you have questions, please give us a call.
Brrrrrrr!!!! It's Getting Cold Outside!
With colder temperatures upon us, it is important that your child come dressed appropriately
as students will be outside at least three times a day. It is also a good idea to pack extra clothing and mitts for those occasions when clothing items might get wet or lost.
Emergency Preparedness
During the month of January we will practicing several of our emergency drills, including Lock Down, and Shelter in
Place.
PAGE 2
Accountability Pillar Survey Process
As an annual check-up on the education system, the Accountability Pillar provides an opportunity for Alberta Education
and school authorities to ensure that we are equipping students for success.
The Accountability Pillar uses a set of 16 indicators consisting of surveys of students, parents and teachers on various
aspects of quality; student outcomes such as dropout and high school completion rates; and provincial assessments of
student learning.
From January to the end of February, Alberta Education will be conducting the annual Accountability Pillar Survey. In
January, parents of students in grade 4 will receive a survey from Alberta Education. In February, students in grade 4
and all teachers will be completing their surveys online at school.
All surveys are anonymous and ask questions about experiences with the school. In addition to English and French, the
parent survey is available in Chinese, Punjabi, Arabic, Blackfoot, Cree, Korean, Spanish, Tagalog and Urdu.
Your participation in the survey helps provide important information on the quality of education your child is receiving,
so we encourage you to return your survey promptly.
Survey results will be available to school authorities in May 2015, and will be reported publicly as part of their 3-Year
Education Plans and Annual Education Results Reports.
Education Act Regulatory Review
Alberta’s new Education Act was passed in the Legislative Assembly and received Royal Assent on December 10, 2012. In
order to meet legislative requirements, 16 regulations have been developed that align with and support the Act.
- Alberta School Foundation Fund
- Board Procedures
- Borrowing
- Charter Schools
- Disposition of Property
- Early Childhood Services
- Establishment of School Districts
- Home Education
- Investment
- Petitions and Public Notices
- Private Schools
- School Councils
- School Fees
- Special School Tax Levy
- Student Records
- Student Transportation
The regulations are posted on the Alberta Education website at http://education.alberta.ca/department/policy/
education-act.aspx for interested Albertans – education stakeholders, parents, educators, and the general public – to
review and provide comments on. The opportunity to provide comments on the new regulations is open until January
31, 2015.
EIPS 2015-2016 Division Calendar Now Available
The Elk Island Public Schools (EIPS) Board of Trustees has approved the division calendar for the 2015-2016 school year.
Please refer to this approved calendar when planning for next school year. Highlights of the calendar include:
August 31
First day for students
November 9-13
Fall break
December 21-January 4
Winter break
February 1
First day Semester Two
March 29 –April 4
Spring break
June 28
Last day for students
June 29
Last day for school staff
This calendar is available electronically at www.eips.ca under the Parents quick link near the top, right corner of the
home page.
PAGE 3
Counselling Corner
We are continuing to focus on our mental, social and physical health. For the month of January, we will focus on the
mental aspects of our lives and this supports the national awareness for mental health.
What is mental health? Mental health refers to us realizing our own abilities, coping with daily demands, and contributing to our sense of community in a healthy way.
Do we need to think about children’s mental health? Absolutely. It is important for children to have the basic necessities of life met and it is also important that each child feel loved and a part of a family, a community.
Children, however, do not usually share their feelings in the ways that adults do. Instead they may act out when something is not quite right in their world. The one key thing we can do as parents is to let our children know that we love
them unconditionally and provide safe boundaries for them to explore and grow.
Letting children explore is important. They need to find out for themselves what they are capable of doing. For example, playing at the playground. Providing the child with boundaries and then letting him or her try out the equipment is
a good way for him or her to connect to the environment and try things out. Each time the child then visits the playground he or she gains awareness and confidence in the things he or she can do. The message the child receives is that
he or she can do it. It is just like school for the first time. As parents, we may bring our child the first few days to ensure
that he or she knows what to do and where to go. After the first week, we let our child come on his or her own into the
school to help develop that awareness and confidence.
Coping with changes and challenges can also be referred to as resiliency. Resiliency relates to our ability to act positively to changes when things do not go as planned or as expected. When does resiliency begin? Essentially at infancy
when a relationship with the child is developed, teaching him or her skills to adapt to changes that may happen on any
given day. For example, a trip to the park may have been planned but has to be postponed. While this may be disappointing it is a reality of life---things do happen and changes occur. Teaching your child how to cope with these changes is a very important skill.
Including your child in community activities and experiences is also important as it expands his or her world and allows
him or her to be a part of something and at the same time, learn a new skill. This may involve such activities as sports,
art, nature or music. The resiliency skills you have been teaching your child can then be generalized to other environments the child experiences.
The Alberta Mental Health Board has published a series of books called The Bounce Back Book. They begin at infancy
and go through to the early school years. One may also go online at www.amhb.ab.ca to gather more information
about developing mental health.
Leadership 2015
We would like to thank all of our Pine Street families for their gifts of time and generosity. We supported the Strathcona Food Bank and raised $300.00 for our upcoming visit to Hope Mission. We raised $302.10 for the Stollery and
delivered our teddy bears in December.
This month leadership is preparing and or working on the following projects:
Winter Wonderland
at school
January 16th
at school
th
January 24
Hope Mission
Leadership conference at school
date and time to be confirmed
Hot chocolate day
10:00 am
February 21st
Paws for Applause—December Winner
The Paws for Applause winner for December was Rylan S. who won a book. Congratulations Rylan!
PAGE 4
Tutti Fruiti Tuesdays
Tutti Fruiti Tuesdays will resume in February.
Student Council
Student council continues to meet the third Monday of every month.
Care Crew
The care crew continues to help with a variety of activities and projects in the school. In December Saffron came and
spoke to the grades 1-3 about personal boundaries and, grades 4-6 about internet safety. The care crew set up and
put away for this activity. The care crew was also instrumental with the ECS Christmas concert.
Lunchroom helpers
We thank our students for helping in the classrooms
Swimming Lessons—First Round
A reminder that swimming lessons are optional and that in order to participate,
school fees must be in good standing.
Jan. 19 to Mar. 16— 9:00 AM—Remeika/Weber
Jan. 19 to Mar. 16—1:00 PM—Bessette/Raddis
Jan. 20 to Mar. 10—10:00 AM—Wlos/Woodbeck
Jan. 20 to Mar. 10—1:00 PM—Chavda/Magnan
Jan. 21 to—Mar. 11-10:00 AM—Ferguson/Bosch
Lost and Found
We have 2 sets of keys and 2 cell phones that have been turned in. If you think any of these items may be yours,
please come to the school office to identify them. Also, our Lost and Found bins are beginning to fill up again. If
possible, please either ask your child, or take a few minutes yourself to go through the bins to see if you recognize
any items belonging to your child.
Please be aware that smaller or more valuable items such as ipods, phones, necklaces, etc., that are found are kept at
the office and not in the bins. Thank you.
PAGE 5