Important Dates
Dec 10th Thurs Dance Grades 5 and 6 3:45 –
5:30 pm
Dance
Grades 7, 8, 9 7:00 –
9:00 pm
Dec 18th
Fri Ugly
Sweater Day
Dec 18th
Fri Last Day of classes – Winter Break
Jan 5th
Tues School
resumes
May 10 & 11th
2016 Provincial
Achievement Tests for Grades 6 & 9
June 14 – 24th
Grade 6 Provincial
Achievement Tests
June 17 – 24th
Grade
9 Provincial Achievement Tests
December Activities:
1. Donating to the Food Bank
From November 23
until December 16, Elboya students will be collecting food and other items for
the Calgary Interfaith Food Bank. Each
food item will receive house points based on the theme for that week:
Dec. 7 – 11 – Canned fruits and
veggies, 5 points
Baby items brought in any time will
receive 10 points each
2. Candygrams
Candy grams will
be sold for $1.00 the week of December 14 – 18.
The money raised will be donated to the Calgary Interfaith Food Bank.
3. Ugly Sweater
Day:
Students are asked
to wear their ugly sweaters to school.
Students with the ugliest sweater in each grade will win 50 points for
their house.
Student-Parent-Teacher Interviews
On November 19 and
20th, Elboya staff hosted 468 parents for interviews. On average
grade 5-9 teachers saw 50 parents each. As many parents are aware, there were
requests that could not be accommodated. We did extend interview time for one
teacher by 2 hours, but the following Monday, the teacher could hardly speak.
Schools are assigned 3 days/year for interviews. We split the days over 2 to
have evening and day times available for parents. We welcome parental interest in their child’s
progress and achievement, but it is difficult for us to manage the volume of
requests. It is why interviews for students in grades 5-9 are limited to six
minutes. We will look again at our processes and hope parents understand the
problem we share.
One important
point, 6-minute interviews are generally adequate for students experiencing
success. They do not always meet the needs of students experiencing
difficulties in 2 or more classes, or who have an Individual Program Plan.
Student Learning Team meetings are intended for serious concerns and involve
parents, perhaps the student, all teachers and an administrator. In this
meeting, we come together to review the current situation and how best to work
together to help an individual student succeed.
Entering/Exiting the School – Students
During the past
month we have changed the way in which students enter the school because large
numbers of students entering the Elementary doors on the east side of the
school were pushed/crushing each other to enter the school.
Our new system has
students entering doors near their classroom in the morning and at lunch:
East Elementary
doors—Kindergarten, Grade 1 and Mrs. Mang’s Grade 2
South Elementary
doors—Grade 2 and 3
Courtyard
doors—Grades 4 and 5 (rooms 9, 10, 11, 12)
2 Storey east and
west doors—Grades 5-9
Students enter the
school at 8:40 a.m. in the morning.
Entering/Exiting the School – Parents
Parents are
welcome to enter the school. Our guidelines are:
-Before 8:45,
parents are welcome to drop off their child at the classroom. In general
teachers of grades 1-4 are usually at their classroom doors and may have time
for a brief chat with one or two parents.
-We recommend that
if parents wish to speak to teachers that an appointment is set up.
Administrators do speak with parents right away in cases of emergencies.
However, in most cases, an appointment is most effective for everyone.
-We request the
cooperation and understanding of parents that teachers need to begin
interacting with students at 8:45.
Teachers are responsible to begin teaching promptly at 8:50 a.m.
-Late students
must sign in at the Main Office as attendance has already been taken in
classes. Students in Kindergarten through Grade 4 give Mrs. Block, the
receptionist, their name while students in grades 5-9 actually sign in. Failure
to sign in triggers an automated call to parents. We do check individual
attendance though this is time-consuming.
-After 8:50 a.m.
and throughout the school day, parents are requested to enter through the Main
West doors by the Main Office and obtain assistance from the secretarial staff
there. Everyone, including CBE staff, is required to sign in, if entering the
school during school hours. Please do not enter through other doors during the
school day.
-It is not
necessary to sign in if a parent is waiting for/picking up/dropping off a
student in the Main Office. In these cases, we ask parents to be in or just
outside of the Main Office. During the winter, parents who wish to come in out
of the cold, are asked to enter the through the Main west doors to both pick up
and drop off their children.
After 3:30,
parents are again welcome to enter the school and go to a classroom to pick up
children.
PLEASE HAVE A
CONSISTENT MEETING SPOT WITH YOUR CHILD.
Reminder, the
school has to be informed of who can pick up your young children. If a relative
or friend, unknown to the school is picking up your child, please advise us in
advance.
Missing Children
We are again
having missing children reported. On Wednesday after school, three different
children were reported missing. A missing child triggers the following within
10 minutes:
-A public address
call for the child to come to the Main Office,
-A call for the
child’s most recent teacher(s) to come to the Main Office,
-A search of the
school by staff,
-A search of the
school grounds,
-A search of the
community, travel to the child’s home or other locations,
-A call to 911
-A call to the
Area Office
Regardless of how
quickly we can resolve the situation, it is a heart-stopping and frightening
for parents and school staff. These are extreme situations which all of us
dread. Usually we are able are resolved within a short period of time, but these
events do leave a mark on all of us.
Our society and
its frantic pace make it difficult for families. I urge parents to discuss plans
in advance and to have set meeting places and times at school. We will be
following up with students at school. Everyone’s cooperation and active support
is needed in this matter.
Elboya is a safe
school with a very safe location. While a school is part of the public school
system, it is not a public place. To maintain the safety of children, school
personnel are expected to know who is in the school and why. We need the
cooperation of the entire school community—students, parents, staff and
community at large to keep our students safe and secure. Thank you for helping us maintain a safe and
secure environment for students.
Band – W. Irwin
Thank you to all
of you that attended our Winter Concert on Tuesday featuring students from
grades 5-9. It was a great evening of music and we could not have done it
without your support. A special thank you to all of our parent volunteers and
the members of the Elboya School Band Parents Association.
We realize that
many parents took pictures and videos at the concert. Please do not post on the
internet.
Library – D. El-Beheiry
A big thank you to
everyone, our parent volunteers in particular, who came out in support of the
Scholastic Book Fair. It was another great success. We have already purchased a
selection of fabulous new reads with the credits. New books will be hitting the shelves in the
next few of weeks.
Woodworking – M. DeNault
A very big thank
you to Marvin DeJong of Dejong Associates for coming to speak to the 7, 8 and 9
woodworking classes this week. His talk
gave the students a first hand opportunity to see how architects design and
plan their building projects which translate into real products that we live and
move about in every day. The students are appreciative!
Public Engagement Survey – G. Comeau
The CBE have
shared on their website a survey about public engagement to guide the creation
of a system-wide approach. The survey takes around 10-15 minutes and must be
completed by December the 11th 2015. Here is the link:
http://www.cbe.ab.ca/get-involved/public-engagement/Pages/Public-Engagement-Framework.aspx
