Weekly email November 28

November 28, 2014

 Dear Parents,

Google Apps for Education (GAFE) and student educbe.ca Gmail accounts

A reminder to parents that a year ago, Elboya school informed parents that CBE was adopting a new email service for students as the old email server and system had become obsolete and costly to maintain.   After an extensive investigation into the options available, the CBE chose to use Gmail within the Google Apps for Education infrastructure.  This provides students with more enhanced privacy protection than regular public Gmail accounts, and will allow students to connect with their peers and teachers in a safe environment.  Gmail within Google Apps for Education is an option that has already been implemented in many other educational jurisdictions and post-secondary institutions and is recognized as being a secure, robust and efficient student email platform.

Please see the attached letter for further information

EOE News

On November 27, forty three grade 7 & 8 EOE students spent two hours at the Calgary Climbing Centre learning to indoor wall climb. Students had a wonderful time climbing and pushing themselves to new heights. Grade 7 had an extra adventure as their bus broke down on the return trip to school - right in the middle of Macleod Trail!  Southland Transportation did an excellent job rescuing the excited students and one frazzled Mr. James. Southland’s Safety team were on site to ensure the safe movement from bus to bus.

 The EOE 7 & 8 ski trip scheduled for December 3 has been postponed until February 4.  Students are reminded to get their forms in ASAP.

 Band Concert

A big thank you to all the Band Parents Association and parent volunteers to make this year’s band concert held at River Park Church a great success!  It is always moving to hear and see the progress from grade 5 who have only been learning to play since September. Band Festivals start in February and continue into March for grades 7-9.

 Library Learning Commons Club

We are starting a new student club in our Library Learning Commons. If your son or daughter has an interest in learning more about how a Learning Commons functions and participating in brainstorming ideas, providing student voice and completing some easy tasks, we would love to have them!  Organizational meetings will be Tuesdays at lunch (12:35) in the learning commons.  See Mrs. Hansen for more information.

Movember

Did you know prostate cancer is the most common cancer among Canadian men? This month is Movember, a month to raise awareness and funds for prostate cancer research. Teachers sported a very spiffy mustache and had their picture taken then displayed, students had to guess which teacher was which and then filled out a ballot for prizes. Thank-you to all those students who donated to this very worthy cause. Stay tuned, prizes will be awarded on Monday!!

Lates and Late Club – Mr. Siakaluk

Students arriving late to school continue to be a concern at Elboya and now that the weather has turned lates can become more common. Developing the habit of being on time is extremely important and critical for the workforce. On Monday, administration will implement a late club for students who are late. Students in grades 5-9 who arrive late need to stay after school for 30 minutes to make up for missed time. Just to clarify – late club will be for students who have an unexcused late. This does not include late school buses, extreme weather, traffic or appointments. This is for students who have chronic late concerns or who arrive to school late with no valid reason.

If your child is late to school and is in Grades K-4, they report directly to Ms. Jones who will record their name. If your child is in Grades 5-9 then they need to sign in the late book. We ask all parents to say their goodbyes outside the school or in the office. Parents are asked not to accompany their students to their classroom as this can be very disruptive to classes.

Dressing for Winter 

Please be sure your child is appropriately dressed for the weather conditions. Jackets, toques, mitts, scarves, boots, snow pants, etc. are highly recommended.

 Food Bank Drive - Ms. Sawchuk, Mrs. MacGillivray, Mr. Hadder 

Monday Nov 24 - Monday December 15. 

This is our major fund raiser for this month.  This year, the need for the food bank has gone up by 200 families in the last few months alone!  The food bank needs our support. Each item brought in will receive house points. We have a focus week for each of the weeks and those items will receive bonus points.

Dec 1 - 4

Protein week

Peanut butter,canned fish , canned meat and protein , rice

3 points each +1 point if brought in on proper week – total of 4 points each if brought in during Dec 1-5

Bonus points

Diapers (6 points)

Baby food (6 points)

Anything that is not listed will receive 1 point each; ie. Soup (1 point)

IMPORTANT REMINDERS

1. Kindergarten Registration - Fall of 2015

January 12, 2015 is the first day of kindergarten pre-reg for fall 2015. 

2. Artist in Residence – Hip Hop Gr 6-9

December 12 – December 18

3. Winter Concert

Our Winter Concert is fast approaching on Thursday, December 11th and the Kindergarten-Grade 4 classes are busy preparing a variety of songs and poems to celebrate the upcoming holiday season.  An issue we continually need to address is the ability to accommodate everyone who wants to watch the performance with our limited space.  With this in mind, we are offering the following options for families:

•       Attend an afternoon performance from 2:30-3:30

•       Attend an early evening performance from 5:30-6:15

•       Attend an evening performance from 6:45-7:30

We will be offering families up to 4 tickets each on a first-come, first-served basis.  We will be using Conference Manager so that families can reserve tickets online.  Conference Manager will be open at 6:30 am Wednesday, Dec 3rd and close at 9:00 am Monday, Dec 8th.  Regardless of the performance parents come to watch, we would like to remind everyone that it is imperative that all students are at all performances.  Some routines have been practiced with everyone and we want to ensure a successful performance for all.  Students need to be at school from 5:15-7:30 pm and they will be under the direct supervision of their teacher for the evening.  Watch for more information next week about how to reserve your tickets.

4. Virtual Learning Commons

Parents can find information about student tests, assignments and teacher blogs at Elboya School on the following link https://sites.google.com/a/educbe.ca/vlc/ 

5. Outstanding Fees

Thank you to all parents who have now submitted school fees. If you have not submitted your child’s fees, please do so now.  If you have any questions regarding fees please do not hesitate to contact Mrs. Carbol at 777-7760 ext. 0.

6. Elementary Pizza

Friday November 28th is the last day to order pizza lunch online at www.healthyhunger.ca .  Elementary pizza lunch is on Wednesday December 3rd. If you are not ordering pizza for your child, please be sure to send a bag lunch on Wednesday.

Upcoming Events: 

Dec 1 - 4                                 Food Bank – Protein Week

Dec 4                                      Dance gr 5-6 3:30-5:00, gr 7-9 7:00-9:00

                                                (Please plan to pick up students promptly at 5:00pm or 9:00pm)

 Dec 5                                      Professional Development Day – NO SCHOOL

                    
Dec 11                                    Winter Concert                                   

Dec 12 – 18                            Artist in Residence

                                                     

  

Cheryl Carbol

Administrative Secretary, Elboya School

Calgary Board of Education | www.cbe.ab.ca

t | 403-777-7760 | ext 0