Dear Parents & Guardians:

In this post you will find information for the following:

·         Important Dates

·         Kindness Assembly (Hosted by Grade 1-2)

·         Painting (March 10-11)

·         Alberta Education Assurance Survey – Parents

·         Food Bank Drive – Results

·         Martinis & Masterpieces Parent Fundraising Gala – May 1

·         Bottle Thrive Fundraiser for James Short School

·         Smart Watch Policy – Reminder

·         AHS Resources: Cooking with your Children

Important Dates –

·         Feb 28 – Professional Development Day (No School)

·         March 5 (8:30-9:15 a.m.) – Kindness & Pink Shirt Day Assembly – Parents Welcome

·         March 10-11 – Painting Residency with Sheila Kernan

·         March 13 – School Council and Society Meeting (1:30-3:00)

·         March 17 – Irish Dancers (9:00-10:00 a.m.)

·         March 19 – Fun Lunch

·         Subscribe to our Web Calendar (link on bottom left)

Kindness Assembly (March 5, 8:30-9:15)

Our Grade 1-2 students are hosting an assembly to acknowledge what our school has learned this past month as we celebrated and acknowledged Valentine’s and Pink Shirt Day. Parents are welcome to attend this event – speak with your children about what role they may have on stage. There will be some presentations from older grades as well.

The themes from these days align with curricular content related to peer relationships and social/emotional learning. Students will be reminding us what Pink Shirt Day stands for, how students have learned to handle challenging social situations on the school grounds with strategies and skits, and all students in the school will have a closing activity to create a bulletin board with messages where we will “Let Kindness Grow”.

Painting Residency

Our students will be painting on March 10 and 11 with Sheila Kernan, a local painter. “Over a decade as a full time artist her work can be found in numerous private, corporate, and public art collections across North America, and the world. Sheila Kernan’s paintings are avidly collected” (https://canadahouse.com/collections/sheila-kernan).

Please plan to have your students dress for painting in appropriate clothing. These masterpieces will be auctioned off at our parent fundraiser gala event on May 1.

Alberta Education Assurance Survey – Parents

Parents who have children in Grades 4-6 at our school will have received an email from the CBE that contains a survey link and a Random Access Code (RAC). The survey timeline is Feb. 18- March 21.

This is an annual survey that parents, students and teachers complete. The survey will gather important information students’ and parents’ school experiences and will help to inform continuous improvement in our education system. The results of last year’s survey were shared at our last School Council meeting in the January Principal’s Report.

If you are completing this year's survey, please note that if a question is not applicable or if you do not feel comfortable answering, you should:

·         leave the response blank or fill in the circle under “N/A”

·         know that a blank response or response under the “N/A” category does not count against the school

Food Bank Drive – Results

Our holiday food drive over the winter holidays collected 100 pounds of food. This generous donation helps to feed those in our city facing food insecurity. Each month, an average of 10,000 people receive food through the Emergency Food Hamper program. Of those who go to the Calgary Food Bank, 31% reported working, 64% were families, and 34% were children.

Thank you for your generous support.

Smart Watch Policy

We have noticed a number of students coming to school with new smart watches (ie. Apple Watches). We kindly remind you that CBE implemented restrictions on Personal Mobile Device & Social Media Use in Schools effective Aug. 29. This policy complies with the Ministerial Order provided by the Government of Alberta this past June based on survey feedback provided by families.

CBE cares about the mental health and well-being of students. Restricting access to personal mobile devices and social media is expected to improve student achievement and learning outcomes. CBE strongly recommends students simply leave their devices at home, because in most cases, personal mobile devices are not needed to support student learning.

For students in kindergarten to Grade 9, CBE will use ‘away for the day’ guidelines similar to what many schools have been using in recent years.  Personal mobile devices brought to school including cell phones, tablets, gaming devices, laptops, smart watches, Bluetooth speakers/headphones or any personal electronic device that can be used to communicate with or access the internet must be powered off or set in silent mode and stored out of sight in student lockers, backpacks or other designated area for the duration of the school day.

If a student is found to be using a personal mobile device in class without permission from the teacher, the teacher will work with the student to ensure the rules are understood. We rely on good communication and other existing processes to ensure students know what is expected. When necessary, schools will use a progressive student discipline approach in working with students.

These new rules will apply to all students, with exceptions for students using devices for health and medical needs, to support specialized learning needs and for educational purposes as directed by the teacher.

For students who require access to a personal mobile device for health and medical needs, it is advised that parents complete and submit a Student Health Plan as soon as possible or contact.

For students who require access to a personal mobile device to support an identified educational need, families should contact the school to discuss this being included as an accommodation or support in the student’s individual program plan (IPP).

Also, aligned with the Ministerial Order, the CBE will restrict student access to all known social media platforms on the CBE network.

Thank you for helping us to make this transition successful. If you need to contact your student during the school day (including lunch hour) please contact the school office at 403-817-3408 (extension 0).

Martinis & Masterpieces Parent Fundraising Gala – May 1 (7:00 p.m.)

Please plan to join the parents and staff of Elbow Park School for a live and silent auction gala event raising funds to enhance the experiences of students at our school. More details to come but save the date for May 1 @ 7pm.

In preparation for the event, local renowned artist Sheila Kernan will be in the school the week of March 10 to guide the students through the creation of beautiful art that reflects aspects of what they are studying in school - six pieces will be available in auction at the gala.

The committee is currently looking for silent auction items and ideas. Please connect with Lindsay Pinder (lindseydwood@icloud.com) if you have anything to contribute or a connection to make. Thank you everyone!

Bottle Thrive Fundraiser for James Short

Our school is partnered with Skip-The-Depot to collect refundables from your home.

• Help support families in need at our sister school, James Short Memorial, which is located in the community of Penbrook Meadows, through our Parent Society’s ongoing bottle drive.
• Bottle donations are collected from your door throughout the school year and the dollars raised will be distributed to families by way of Superstore gift cards.
• You can schedule your bottle pick-ups by using the Skip-The-Depot app and connecting to our Elbow Park Parent Society in the list of donors. More instructions are available on our Fundraisers & Donations webpage.

Alberta Health (AHS) Resources

February parent newsletters (available for download as a PDF as well if needed).

Children: Building confidence and healthy habits: Fun and easy ways to get kids cooking!

Teens: Empower your teen in the kitchen: Build confidence and healthy habits for life!

March is Nutrition Month