| Dear Sunnyside Families, It is hard to believe that the school year is now half over. It feels like we welcomed our students to the 2021-2022 school year just yesterday. Although we have not been able to bring our families into the school as we had hoped, we hope that you have been able to catch a glimpse of the amazing learning that is happening at Sunnyside through your child's Google Classroom and Sunnyside Weekly news stories on our website. We look back at the first 5 months of school and are proud of our collective effort to provide school-wide community-building events, such as Terry Fox Run, Orange Shirt Day, Level Up Minecraft challenge, giving initiatives for the Veterans' Foodbank and Project Warmth, walking field trips to the Field of Crosses and other nearby destinations, learning on the land in our naturalization areas, Bell Let's Talk Day and spirit days. As we work on the goals of our School Development Plan, teachers have been providing regular opportunities for students to express their knowledge orally. Teachers use strategies such as Think-Pair-Share and Number Talks to design learning activities that use language to build and share their understanding, using discipline-specific vocabulary for math, social studies and science. School staff have been working together to address students' social-emotional well-being by teaching social-emotional competencies in the classroom and schoolyard contexts. So far this year, we have focused on self-management, self-awareness and social awareness. Teachers are supporting students in being able to express their feelings and choose a strategy to help them: “When I feel ____, I can". Beginning on Tuesday, February 1, you will be able to view your child's first report card online through your MyCBE/PowerSchool account. Teachers have assessed students in all curricular areas based on the outcomes from the Alberta program of studies of their grade from September to January. You will see comments about your child's achievement in literacy, mathematics and oral language, along with next steps that your child will be working on in the next term, with their teacher's support. Please have a conversation with your child about what they are proud of and help them to set a goal for the second half of the school year. We look forward to more community-building initiatives in the upcoming months, including: a focus on empathy for Valentine's Day and Pink Shirt Day, Winter Olympics, working with our School Council to design an outdoor Learning Circle, in-school field trips and residencies and many outdoor learning opportunities. Parents will be invited to be a part of their children's learning at Student-led Conferences in March. Yours in learning,
Krista Schmitt
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