October 2 BUZZ
Happy Monday!
Read-in-Week is this week. We encourage families to find time to reimagine ways to read together. If you're in the school, you can check out the staff bulletin board that shows ways the Glen Allan team have reimagined reading.
It's a great week for a great week!
Please read through the following blog post articles for important Glen Allan information.
Action
Opportunity
- Counsellor Corner - Kids Have Stress Too! Parent Information Night - October 12
- Book Fair Volunteers
Information
- Celebrating World Teachers' Day - October 5
- Parent Information Night Follow-Up: Cyberworld Presentation Recording
- Enhancing Literacy and Numeracy
First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Information
- Orange Shirt Day
- Bus Evacuation
WEEK AT A GLANCE - October 2 - October 6
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ACTION
Read In Week 2023 is taking place October 2-6.
Read In Week returns on October 2. This year’s theme: “Read In Reimagined.” Through various activities, students will spend the week learning how to reimagine reading—it’s more than just story books—reading happens everywhere and is for everyone, no matter your age. Some of the activities planned for Read In Week include:
- Guest readers visiting classrooms in-person and virtually and Class Buddy literacy time
- Read My Shirt Spirit Day where staff and students are invited to wear shirts with words on them that we can all read.
- Decorating bookmarks that will be given to people who make a donation to Glen Allan through the Indigo For Love of Reading campaign
- Creating "Most Wanted" posters to be displayed at Indigo Sherwood Park during the Love of Reading campaign
Read In Week is a division-wide initiative held annually to encourage a lifelong love of reading and to enhance literacy awareness among students, staff, families and community members. Glen Allan Elementary invites all families to participate in Read In Week by reading yourself, with your child or with someone in the community.
Don’t forget to share what you’ve learned. Throughout the week, you can post your own stories about Read In Week using the hashtag #eipsreads.
For more information, visit the Read In website.
Pay School Fees Online!
School fee information for the 2023-24 school year is now posted on the PowerSchool Parent Portal. All fees are due within 30 days of being posted. To access your fee information, simply log in to the PowerSchool Parent Portal and go to “Student Fees.” There you can view your fees and pay them online.
Don’t forget to also log in to the PowerSchool Parent Portal regularly throughout the year. Fees are often added to your child’s account to cover the cost of various school activities such as field trips, class projects, extracurricular activities fees and more.
If circumstances exist where you’re unable to pay your fees, you can apply to have certain fees waived by submitting an Application for a Waiver of Fees. The application deadline is Dec. 15, 2023.
For more information about school fees, waivers and payment deadlines, visit www.eips.ca/schools/fees and https://www.glenallanelementary.ca/parent-info/school-fees. Alternatively, contact Shauna Delainey at Glen Allan Elementary at 780-467-5519.
OPPORTUNITY
Counsellor Corner - Kids Have Stress Too! Wes Hosford Elementary School, October 12 from 6-8 pm Presented by Strathcona County Family Resource Network
Even the most nurturing home and school environment includes a range of stressors that can both challenge and motivate children. While stress is a necessary part of development and learning, it’s clear that Canadian families now face more stress than ever before.
With the help of a range of educators, psychologists, and stress experts from across the country, we developed the Kids Have Stress Too! ®program. The program is designed to help the important people in children's lives learn to promote resiliency by buffering the impact of stress and building positive coping strategies to deal with life’s stressors.
We will talk about how stress can lead to Anxiety and Depression along with many other challenges. We will also talk about resources for specific mental health diagnoses. We will also cover positive, tolerable, and toxic stress, how it impacts brain development, and specific tools for parents to practice with their children to manage and reduce stress in healthy ways.
If you are interested in attending, please click on the following link to RSVP: https://forms.gle/ZxM4vskN3BL3hHbi8
Book Fair Volunteers
From October 23-27, we will have Scholastic Book Fair happening in our library.
We will need volunteers for:
- Wednesday, October 25: 1-3pm and 4-630pm
- Thursday, October 26: 930-12pm, 1-3pm, and 4-630pm
Volunteers would be helping students find what they're looking for, restocking items, and being a cashier for purchases. If you are interested in volunteering to help out during Book Fair, please email your availability to Mrs. Appleby (Assistant Principal and Library Teacher) chrissy.appleby@eips.ca
INFORMATION
Celebrating World Teachers’ Day: October 5
October 5 is World Teachers’ Day! Launched in 1994 by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), World Teachers’ Day is celebrated annually around the world as a way to recognize teachers and the integral role they play in providing quality education to students. On October 5, Elk Island Public Schools (EIPS) encourages all of its students, parents, caregivers and community members to show their appreciation for their teachers and the positive impact they make on our lives.
EIPS extends its heartfelt thank you to all Division teachers for their dedication, hard work and commitment in guiding and educating students through their kindergarten to Grade 12 years.
Parent Information Night Follow-Up: Cyberworld Presentation Recording
If you missed the Cyberworld presentation last Thursday, here are the links to the video recording.
Cyberworld: What Happens When Youth Present Send?*
*note that the content has been slightly updated for the parent presentation since the recording has been made.
Enhancing literacy and numeracy
As part of Elk Island Public Schools’ (EIPS) ongoing efforts to enhance the literacy and numeracy of students in all grade levels, the Division is once again administering the Star Early Literacy, Star Reading and Star Math assessment tools in the 2023-24 school year. These tools focus on literacy and numeracy, are digitally based and offer an opportunity for students to demonstrate their learning. The goal: To provide timely information to teachers, help enhance classroom instruction and identify student learning needs.
Three times a year, EIPS students in Grade 1 complete the Star Early Literacy assessment and students in grades 2-12 complete the Star Reading assessment. Both assessments are administered electronically and take about 20 minutes. Students in grades 2 through 10 also complete the Star Math, a mathematic screening tool. It, too, is administered electronically and takes about 30 minutes for students to complete. The results offer teachers a clearer picture of a student’s learning needs and help determine if subsequent instructional planning is required. NOTE: Semester students complete the Star Math twice, at the start and end of the course.
In addition to the Star assessments, Alberta Education now mandates all students in grades 1-3 complete additional literacy and numeracy assessments. Students in Grade 2 and Grade 3 complete these provincial assessments in September. Grade 1 students will complete the assessments in January 2023.
The scores of the assessments aren’t used toward a student’s grade, and there is no need to study ahead of time. The tools simply provide the teacher with information to better understand where each student is in terms of reading comprehension and mathematic ability. If, after analyzing the results, it’s determined a student can benefit from extra support, the teacher will contact the family to discuss possible support strategies.
For more information about the Division’s Star and MIPI assessment tools, contact EIPS Supports for Students at 780-464-3477.
FIRST NATIONS, MÉTIS, AND INUIT INFORMATION
Orange Shirt Day and Ongoing Learning at Glen Allan
Thank you to our Glen Allan community for wearing your orange shirts on Friday. It is another piece of evidence of our continued commitment to learning about, and carrying out, the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action. It was an outward sign of our students’ and school community’s acknowledgement of the impact of residential schools and that Every Child Matters. While Saturday was officially the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, our work extends beyond one day. At Glen Allan we have a staff committed to learning with students about the history and legacy of residential schools and how to make meaning in an age-appropriate way, in addition to engaging in lessons and activities about Indigenous ways of knowing, being and learning.
Coming up:
In mid-October, our teachers will engage in Professional Learning with members of our EIPS First Nations, Metis, and Inuit Learning Team. During this time together, in Grade-Groups, teachers will design age-appropriate lessons for the subject area of their choice. Some groups may choose to focus on learning from the land, others on including Indigenous perspectives, and still others may look at authentic ways to teach science and numeracy with a more inclusive lens. It will be exciting to see what teachers come up with. Stay tuned!
PHOTO GALLERIES
Orange Shirt Day
Little Elk Island Adventurers & Bus Evacuation Drill
