Dear Parents,
I am very pleased to
inform parents that Elboya School’s new Virtual Learning Commons will open to
parents as of the receipt of this email on Friday, October 3, 2014. It is located at: https://sites.google.com/a/educbe.ca/vlc/
At this site, a student
or parent can select a grade and view each teacher ‘s blog for that subject as
well as the calendar for the grade group. Homework, assignments and tests and
test dates will all be on the one calendar. On the home page, parents can also
find the weekly email, any news and other general information. This site will
not include student names or images.
This site grew out of
requests from parents to have one stop access to assignments, homework and
tests. It also shows teachers when other staff are scheduling assignments and
tests and will help us to spread work out more effectively.
I would like to thank
Ms. Hansen who picked up Mr. Armstrong’s concept and initial work and made it
work for the entire school. We
anticipate that there may be some initial teething problems, but also believe
that this will be very helpful for students and parents.
Assessment and Reporting
As parents are aware
from last year’s weekly emails, the Calgary Board of Education has introduced a
new report card for students in Kindergarten through Grade 9 this year. A Parent’s guide to Assessment and Reporting
has recently been published and is found on the Calgary Board of Education’s
website at http://www.cbe.ab.ca/Parents/assessment-and-reporting/introduction.asp
The guide is immediately
under the photograph on the right hand side. Other documents and information
and interest to parents are on that page as well.
Information about
assessment will be a regular part of our weekly email and on our website as we
work through this new reporting system together.
In addition, Elboya
School will continue to make HomeLogic, which shows a student’s marks and
assessments available to parents. It is for ALL students and will open to
parents on October 20,2014 prior to Parent-Teacher Conferences for students in
Grades 7-9 on October 30 and 31. Parents are encouraged to login and check
their access. Instructions are found at
If parents are having
difficulties with logging in, please call the Main Office at 403 777-7760 ext.
0 and speak with Mrs. Jones.
Elboya School will be
continuing our tradition of student awards after the report cards in January
and at the end of June. Information
about the nature and number of awards will be announced before the Winter
holidays.
New-Student Leadership Program at Elboya School
This fall brings a new
leadership model to Elboya School. We will be offering every student the
opportunity to be a leader at the school. This is a new venture and one
requested by students and parents who wanted us to broaden leadership
opportunities in the school. In
September, administrators sponsored events and offered students leadership and
service opportunities to all Grade 9 students.
Students made PA announcements for a week, announced times at Parent
Teacher Conferences, appeared as Inferno, gave out Traffic Safety Thank you
messages, set up and ran the Kindergarten through Grade 4 Terry Fox, led the
singing of “O Canada” at the Terry Fox assembly and helped with food
distribution at Terry Fox run. In total 48 students primarily in grade 9 and
including some grade 8’s volunteered to help out in September and earned house
points too.
In October, Mr. Coward’s
Grade 7-9 homeroom and Ms. Haines’ Grade 4/5 class have planned and are
sponsoring the following: PA
Announcements, Inferno appearances, recycling, a PJ/Breakfast Spirit Day on
October 17, and Hallowe’en activities during the week of October 27 to 30th.
The classes are pursuing a fundraising activity to provide a sock of goodies
for children unable to go out Trick or Treating personally. More details will
follow in subsequent weekly emails.
Each class and homeroom
will have the opportunity to select and run the activities of the school
between now and the end of the year.
Typically there will be a K-4 class, a 5-6 homeroom and a 7-9 homeroom
working together to decide on and plan activities. While some activities will
occur every month such as PA announcements, others such as the dates and themes
of spirit days, other activities and fundraising opportunities will be decided
by students in collaboration with their teachers.
House Leader Elections
took place on September 30th. Interested
students made speeches and grade 5-9 students voted in their houses to elect
their representatives. We look forward to house leaders taking an active role in
student activities this year. Some of
their responsibilities will be tracking house points, chairing assemblies,
running house meetings, etc.:
Other current
opportunities open to students include the Technology Club for Grades 7-9 (see Ms.
Hansen in the Library/Learning Commons) and the Principal’s Advisory Council in
three Grade groupings 1-4 and 5-6 and 7-9. These activities will begin in
October.
School Funding and Increased staff
As many parents are
aware, schools are funded for the entire year based on enrolment on September
30th. This is another year of cutbacks
to school funding. To give parents an idea of the impact, usually with an
increase in enrolment of 40+ students, I would be able to hire 2 additional
teachers. This year we have been able to hire 1 additional teacher, Mr. M.
Wong. This is very helpful in providing students with Math/Science resource
time in Grades 5-9 and in providing more English Language Learning support in
grades 1-4 and teaching two other classes currently taught by Mr. Siakaluk and
myself. This will allow both of us to focus more completely on our own work. We
will be transitioning classes over the next week. Funding is always a very
tricky matter and this year has gone better than we anticipated in the spring
of 2014 when the initial staffing and budget was done.
Thank you Parents
Thank you to the many
parents to have already volunteered with fieldtrips or in the school. A special thank you to Mrs. Elaine Dube who
suggested and ran the initial “Thank you” program for Traffic Safety Week this
past week. The Traffic Safety Program is offered by the Calgary Association of
Parents and School Councils.
Sincerely,
Linda Davis
Principal
Oktoberfest
Oktoberfest tickets are
now selling briskly. Thank you to those who have already donated wine, auction
items and stuff for the class baskets. We need more but it’s a great start for
being only a few weeks back to school.
The event is on Friday October 24th -just short of a month away, and
tickets will be on sale until October 15th.
Please check out the event details on our Facebook page at Elboya
Oktoberfest. Details will be posted about the venue, food, auction items, class
basket themes and more. It is going to
be a fantastic event!
Questions?
Rhonda Fulton
1-866-610-6284
Band Bottle Drive
The Elboya Band Parent
Council, along with students, will be having their first bottle drive of the
year on October 18 between 9 am and 1 pm.
That gives you two weeks to start saving up your bottles, cans, plastic
milk jugs...anything that can be returned for money!
Please consider helping
us out with this worthwhile cause that benefits every student taking band at
Elboya! We will need people to help us
hand out flyers in the Elboya and Britannia communities. Bottles can be dropped
off at the school or they can be picked up by students on the day of the drive.
More information will come out before the event, but if you have any questions,
feel free to contact Maxine Leverett (Fundraising) at
maxine.edwards@hotmail.com.
Author
Visits
|
Age Range/Language
|
Author
|
Date and Time
|
|
Grades 1 - 4 Engl
|
Dan Bar-el
(118)
|
Wed Oct 15 1:10 - 2:10 pm
|
|
Grades 5 & 6 French
|
Christiane Duchesne
(92 kids)
|
Thurs, Oct 16 9 - 10 am
|
|
Grades 7 - 9 French
|
Fabian Gregoire
(105 kids)
|
Wed, Oct 15 9:10 - 10:10 am
|
|
Grades 5 - 9 English
|
David Bouchard
(180 kids)
|
Wed Oct 8 10:45-12:15pm
|
Grade 3 SLAs - Mr. D Siakaluk
Grade 3 Provincial
Achievement Exams have been replaced with a more interactive Student Learning
Assessment. This year, schools are piloting the process and a note went home to
Grade 3 students last week. The dates of the tests have been moved to October
16, 17, 21 and 23. The tests take place during class. Please ensure your child
has had a good night’s rest and a sufficient breakfast. Please refer to the
letter sent home last week for more information, or speak with your child's
teacher.
Gr 9 Meeting for Transition to High School,
Grade 9 Celebration and Quebec Field Trip on October 16, 2014– Mr. D Siakaluk
and Ms. Davis
On October 16, 2014, we
scheduled a meeting in the Main Gym about the Grade 9 field trip to Quebec
planned for April 6-11, 2015. An information letter was sent home last Monday
with each grade 9 student. We have decided to incorporate information about the
Grade 9 transition to high school and the Grade 9 Celebration at the beginning
of the meeting. This will take a maximum
of 30 minutes and by so doing, we will maximize parent and student time. The
Quebec field trip part of the meeting will occur directly after the initial
information and opportunity for feedback about a Grade 9 celebration.
Families interested in
the Quebec field trip are asked to bring the first payment of $500.00 that
evening to confirm participation. The cheque will not be immediately cashed,
but will reserve a spot and is necessary for planning purposes.
Lockdown Practice - Mr. D Siakaluk
Each year at Elboya we
participate in lockdown drill practices with the support of the Calgary Police
Service. These drills are practiced to ensure students know what to do in case
of an emergency. Our first lockdown practice will be on Tuesday, October 21 at
10:00 am. Teachers will work with students to familiarize and practice the
drill prior to the 21st. Please contact Mr. Derek Siakaluk through the main
office with any questions.
Attendance and Lates– Mr. D. Siakaluk
Just a reminder to
parents that the warning bell for school rings at 8:45 am. Students should
arrive at school for that time. This gives students 5 minutes to get ready for
their homeroom class, which begins at 8:50. Students who arrive at 8:50 or
after are late and must check into the office. We emphasize the importance of
being prompt and having your children to the school by 8:45 as this maximizes
their learning time and minimizes disruption to all students’ Learning
Environment.
Appointments – Ms. Davis
Parents we need your
help. If your child is leaving school early, please send the child to school
with a NOTE that they can show their teacher, leave class and be waiting in the
Main Office for you. Secretarial staff
are finding it difficult to complete their work due to a very high volume of
requests to call a student to the office. In addition, every call disrupts
students’ learning opportunity. It is
crucial that your child knows they have an appointment and are ready to leave. Thank you for your cooperation and support.
For Your Information—Volunteers
In order to act as a
volunteer, you must have completed:
• Annual Volunteer form
• Police Clearance
• Driver’s Authorization (If you drive someone else’s
child)
Upcoming Events & Dates
Monday, October 6th
EOE
Grade 8 Mountain Biking @ COP
Girls Soccer Game at A.E. Cross School
JR Boys Volleyball
Game, John Ware School
Tuesday October 7th
Boys Soccer Game at A.E. Cross School
Sr
Girls Volleyball at A.E. Cross School
Jr Girls Volleyball at Vincent Massey School
Wednesday October 8th Girls Soccer Game at Bishop Pinkham School
SR Boys Volleyball at
John Ware School
Thursday October 9th
Cross Country Meet at North
Glenmore Park
Friday, October 10th
Grade 7-9 Pizza
Monday, October 13th – NO SCHOOL Thanksgiving
Day
October 16th Alternate Cross Country Meet North Glenmore Park October
23rd
October 17th PJ’s & Breakfast
October 18th Elboya
Band Council Bottle Drive
October 23rd Photo Retakes
October 24th Oktoberfest
Practices
Running club Grades 1-5
Monday 12:16-12:35 Grade 3 and 4
Tuesday12:16-12:35 Grade 1 and 2
Wednesday
12:35-1:01Grade 5
Cross country: Grades 6-9
Begins: Monday September 15 2014
Ends: Thursday October 9
unless we need the alternate meet which will be on Thursday October 16
Practice:
Mondays after school 3:30pm – 4:15pmCheryl Carbol
Administrative Secretary
Elboya School
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