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Briar Hill Instagram Upgrade – Exciting update Our Briar Hill Instagram is getting an upgrade thanks to our School Council. Moving forward, our council will send timely reminders around things like PD days, Volunteer opportunities, Pizza or Healthy lunch orders deadlines, and special events. They will also post a weekly calendar to show a quick view of the week ahead. A big thank you to council for taking on this intitiative.
Our Instagram handle is: briarhillschool
We understand not everyone has an Instagram account and/or wants to join the social media platform. The bi-weekly update from the school will continue as our main form of communication. Information from that message, will be pulled as a quick reminder for the Instagram account, however the school messenger email will always be the place where you will receive information first.
Grade Configuration It is at this time of year that we look forward to next year. We have already received our school budget to make decisions around how many classrooms and staff we can resource for next year. When looking at our numbers in each grade, it became evident that we might need to re-visit how we configure grades for next year to best meet the needs of our students. Unless anything drastically changes with our numbers, our plan is to move forward with the following for grade configuration:
AM Kindergarten | PM Kindergarten |
| Grade One | Grade One |
| Grade 2/3 | Grade 2/3 | Grade 2/3 | Grade 4/5 | Grade 4/5 |
| Grade 5/6 | Grade 5/6 |
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We have been carefully and thoughtfully working through next year’s class lists. Please know we put much thought into the class lists and there are multiple factors that we consider when we create the lists; one of them includes peer relationships. It is a very complex process and has a domino effect should anything need to be adjusted.
Having said that, should you have any worries or wonders, please do reach out to myself either through email at erlamontagne@cbe.ab.ca or call the school to set up a time to connect.
New Casino Date – Nov 17 & 18 Thank you to our parent organizer for securing our next casino date. It is a massive fundraiser for our school community and provides enrichment opportunities for our students. Please mark your calendars for November 17 and 18 as it requires many amazing volunteers to make it happen.
Next Year Calendar 2023-2024-Traditional-Calendar.pdf
CBE has approved the calendar for the 2023-2024 school year. With the transition to one calendar for all schools, you will see a new Fall Break, with no school for students from November 9 to 15. We hope families who are booking travels during that time can make it back for the School Casino on November 17 and 18. J
Our school specific calendar will be approved mid-June and sent out when it is finalized. Our Briar Hill calendar will include our Parent Conferences and Professional Development days and Organizational days where you currently see “Non-Instructional Days”. All blue labeled days – non-instructional days- indicate no school for students, but working days for staff.
Volunteer Tea reminder – RSVP before May 23 We look forward to taking time to say thank you for all that you do. Our Volunteer Tea is on May 26th from 11:00 to 12:30 pm. To help with our planning, please RSVP to Briarhill@cbe.ab.ca with the amount of guests coming to our tea. We ask that you RSVP before May 23rd.
UPCOMING DATES May 22 Victoria Day – NO school May 23 Open Minds - Telus Spark – Mrs. Makkai May 24 Kindergarten Open House 5 to 6 pm May 25 Downtown Trip – LeVesconte/Cooper May 26 Volunteer Tea 11 to 12:30 pm May 29 PD day – NO school May 31-June 2 Camp Kindle – Grade 5/6 classes June 3 Bottle Drive June 8 Healthy Hunger June 9 Organizational Day – NO school June 20 PAT – Grade 6 – Reading - 9 am June 20 Lady Buggy – In school experience – Grade ½ classes June 21 National Indigenous People’s Day & Summer Solstice June 22 PAT – Grade 6 – Math Part A - 9 am June 23 PAT – Grade 6 – Math Park B – 9 am June 26 PAT – Grade 6 – Social Studies – 9 am June 26 Wagonstage Theatre – Micro Forests June 27 PAT – Grade 6 – Science – 9 am June 27 Sport’s Day – PM June 28 Grade 6 Farewell – PM June 29 Last day of school for students
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Dear Briar Hill Families,
We hope you are enjoying the warm sunshine and burst of green that has popped this week. There were many field trips last week to enrich and augment learning experiences for our students. Thank you for your ongoing support as field trips would not be possible without the support of our families, and the time out of your schedule to volunteer on the trips.
Volunteer Tea – SAVE THE DATE Briar Hill staff and students are excited to welcome parents back to our school to celebrate and honour you! We will host our Volunteer Tea on Friday, May 26 from 11 to 12:30 pm. As parents, you volunteer in so many ways – both directly at school or on field trips, and behind the scenes supporting your child. Please know you are all welcome to attend. More information to come, including a way to RSVP for the event.
Calm Corner One of our initiatives this year is to think about the spaces in our building and ensuring we are supporting all learners at Briar Hill. Through this work, and conversations with our grade 6 Student Council, we came to realize there was a need to provide a unique space for students to access when needed. Our student council met with Occupational Therapists and our Area Learning Strategist to learn more about what might be needed in this space. Along with this work, Mrs. Lawson and Mrs. Gerla were engaged in CBE initiative called, Design the Shift, where they identified a problem of practice within a school and worked to create a shift and/or solution. From this collaboration, and funds through Design the Shift, our calm corner was transformed.
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Upcoming Dates *at this time, more may be added May 8-12 Open Minds - Telus Spark - Ms. Spidla May 9 Calgary Zoo - Grade ¾ classes May 9 Camp Kindle Parent Meeting 6:30 pm May 11 Kinder Bug Bonanza – In school experience – Kindergarten – both classes attend May 11 Queen Elizabeth Grade 6 tour AM May 12 Evergreen Theatre Musical Performance May 15-18 Open Minds - Telus Spark – Mrs. Makkai May 17 PAT – Grade 6 – Writing - 9 am May 17 School Council 7 pm May 18 Pizza Lunch May 22 Victoria Day – NO school May 23 Open Minds - Telus Spark – Mrs. Makkai May 25 Downtown Trip – LeVesconte/Cooper May 26 Volunteer Tea 11 to 12:30 pm May 29 PD day – NO school May 31-June 2 Camp Kindle – Grade 5/6 classes June 8 Healthy Hunger June 9 Organizational Day – NO school June 20 PAT – Grade 6 – Reading - 9 am June 20 Lady Buggy – In school experience – Grade ½ classes June 21 National Indigenous People’s Day & Summer Soltice June 22 PAT – Grade 6 – Math Part A - 9 am June 23 PAT – Grade 6 – Math Park B – 9 am June 26 PAT – Grade 6 – Social Studies – 9 am June 26 Wagonstage Theatre – Micro Forests June 27 PAT – Grade 6 – Science – 9 am June 27 Sport’s Day – PM June 28 Grade 6 Farewell – PM June 29 Last day of school for students June 30 Last day of school for Briar Hill staff
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Dear Briar Hill Families, Happy Spring Snow flurries! Thankfully, we have students to remind us of the joys of catching the big fluffy flakes. I needed this reminder today. Family Movie Night Deep gratitude to our parent council for organizing Briar Hill’s first family movie night. We look forward to seeing many of our families at the school to watch Puss ‘n Boots: The Last Wish. Doors and concession open at 5:30, with the movie starting at 6:00 pm. Please enter through the front doors of the school and the event will be held in our gym. There will be some mats for families to sit on, but you may also want to bring your own blanket/pillows. Please note, all children must be accompanied by an adult.
Healthy Hunger
Our next Healthy Hunger lunch is Thursday, May 4th and is A & W. Please order through https://healthyhunger.ca/ where you can register your student(s). Once your account is created you will be able to view the up-coming Fun Lunches, place orders and pay online with Visa or Mastercard. This program is completely optional and you can participate in all, some, or none of the lunches that are set up. Briar Hill School and Parent Council want to ensure that every child that wants to, can participate. Please do not hesitate to reach out directly to Ms LaMontagne at erlamontagne@cbe.ab.cashould you have any financial concerns relating to these lunches. Unfortunately, the Healthy Hunger lunch is only available for our grade one to six students. Please use this guide to help you set up an account :Parents_healthy hunger.pdf Message from Student Council Dear Families of Briar Hill school, Student council is delighted to announce we are opening a quiet, safe space for students to come to calm down. We would be very appreciative if you could donate the following items for our space: - Sound machine
- Noise cancelling headphones
- Pillows
Thank you for taking your time to read this list. Sincerely, Student Council (15 very dedicated and insightful grade 6 students) Parent Virtual Presentation – Tuesday, April 25 6:30 pm Raising Healthy, Happy Children in an Ever-Changing World Our kids are experiencing an unprecedented sense of isolation, interacting virtually in a world that seems ever more fearful with each news cycle. They absorb and internalize the stress and anxiety they see on their parents' faces and, on the phone, laptop, tablet, and TV screens that are ever before their eyes. Not surprisingly, their mental and physical health are suffering. As parents, we want to know how we can help.
In this presentation I’m going to help parents understand the mental, physical, and social toll that the changing world is having on their children. Thankfully there’s hope. I’ll provide proven strategies to help our children get back onto a healthy path.
When: Apr 25, 2023
Time: 6:30 pm https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86956143061 We will host interested parents in viewing the presentation together at Briar Hill, please email erlamontagne@cbe.ab.ca to RSVP. Scooter Parking – Help J We love to see all the scooters being used to ride to school. We have designated a space inside the school for our scooters to be parked. If there is a handy parent out there who might be able to think creatively and build us a simple structure for the scooters to stand, we would be most appreciative. We would absolutely cover the cost of materials. Please email erlamontagne@cbe.ab.ca if you would be able to help us out. Upcoming Dates April 25 Parent presentation – Tom Kersting - 6:30 pm May 1-4 Open Minds – Telus Spark – Ms. Jordan’s 1/2 May 3 OH Ranch – Mr McClellan’s 5/6 May 4 Healthy Hunger May 4 Calgary Zoo – Mrs. Eloho’s 5/6 May 5 PD day May 8-12 Open Minds – Telus Spark – Ms. Spidla’s 1/2 May 9 Camp Kindle Parent Meeting – 6:30 pm May 9 Calgary Zoo – ¾ classes May 11 Queen Elizabeth tour for grade 6 students May 15-18 Open Minds – Telus Spark – Mrs. Miller’s 1/2 May 17 PAT – ELA – Grade 6 – 9 am May 18 Pizza Lunch May 22 NO school – Victoria Day May 23 Open Minds – Telus Spark – Mrs. Miller’s 1/2 May 25 Downtown Calgary Field Study – Mrs. LeVesconte/Mr. Cooper grade 5/6 May 29 PD day May 31-June 1 Camp Kindle – Grade 5/6 classes
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Dear Briar Hill Families,
We had many smiling students return to school with lots to share about their spring break adventures. With the warmer temperatures, we hope to take our learning outside more regularly. Studies show a direct correlation between being well and focused to learn after spending time in nature.
Please remember there is no school on Friday, April 7th as it is good Friday, and Monday, April 10th is a Professional Development day for teachers. We look forward to welcoming students back on Tuesday, April 11th.
Thank you to all our parents and guardians who volunteered their time this week with Mrs. William’s class on their Open Minds week at Telus Spark, and with Ms. Lawson and Mrs. Gerla’s class today to the Leighton Centre. We look forward to many more trips coming up. If you do not yet have your police security clearance, please reach to out Katie in the office to get it started. You can send her an email at kafurlong@cbe.ab.caor by calling the school at 403-777-6140.
Healthy Hunger A friendly reminder that our next Healthy Hunger lunch is Thursday, April 13th and is from Opa.
Room 2 Project – Gorilla’s on the Line Please see attach document about a very important project by our Grade 5/6 students in Room 2. They need your support! Gorrilas On The Line.pdf
Vaccinations – April 13 – From our School Nurse
Alberta Health Services Public Health will be coming to the school on Thursday April 13th , 2023 to vaccinate the grade 6 students with the second dose of routine immunizations. The grade 1-5 students will also try and be caught up if they have been absent at our previous programs and/or need to start or finish vaccine series.
The grade 6 immunizations include Hepatitis B (HBV) and Human Papilloma Virus (HPV).
The grade 1-4 immunizations are generally ones that were missed at 4-6yrs of age. Typically, these immunizations include dTap-IPV (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and polio) and MMR-Var (measles, mumps, rubella, varicella/chickenpox). Your child may have been offered additional vaccinations if they are missing other immunizations.
Each student is unique with their immunization needs and/or requirements so confidentiality is necessary to protect the personal information of each student.
To help make a positive immunization experience, we highly recommend the kiddo’s eat breakfast before coming to school and for them to wear a short sleeve shirt for easy access to the injection site! ????
AHS Public Health will only be vaccinating those students whose parents have provided consent. Please note that Covid-19 vaccine is not currently being offered through the school immunization program, and only routine immunizations with signed consents will be provided. For more information on immunizations offered in Alberta please visit: AHS Immunization | Immunization (immunizealberta.ca) If you have not returned the consents to the school, please do so by April 11th. If you have any questions or concerns please contact me directly and I’d be happy to help!
Thank you, Megan
Megan Neale RN, BN, CCHN(c) She/Her Public Health Nurse | School Team
Thornhill Community Health Centre Ph: 403-944-7514 Megan.neale@albertahealthservices.ca
Parent Presentation – April 25 6:30 pm With thanks to the support of our School Council, and funds from the Alberta Government, we are pleased to share we are joining 5 other Elementary Schools to bring in Tom Kersting for a virtual parent evening. We will host interested parents in viewing the presentation together at Briar Hill or for those wanting to watch from the comfort of their home, here is the link to the session.
You are invited to a Zoom webinar.
When: Apr 25, 2023 08:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Topic: Disconnected
Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86956143061 Tom Kersting is a nationally renowned psychotherapist, author and television contributor. He is the author of the bestselling book, Disconnected: How to Protect Your Kids From the Harmful Effects of Device Dependency and the newly released bestseller, Raising Healthy Teenagers: Equipping Your Child to Navigate the Pitfalls and Dangers of Teen Life. Tom is a regular, guest expert on many national television news and talk shows where he offers insight and advice about parenting, relationships and wellness. He lectures throughout the country. His presentation description for our evening is:
Raising Healthy, Happy Children in an Ever-Changing World
Our kids are experiencing an unprecedented sense of isolation, interacting virtually in a world that seems ever more fearful with each news cycle. They absorb and internalize the stress and anxiety they see on their parents' faces and on the phone, laptop, tablet, and TV screens that are ever before their eyes. Not surprisingly, their mental and physical health are suffering. As parents, we want to know how we can help.
In this presentation I’m going to help parents understand the mental, physical, and social toll that the changing world is having on their children. Thankfully there’s hope. I’ll provide proven strategies to help our children get back onto a healthy path by:
· reducing screen time and increasing green time
· Developing robust social and emotional skills
· The importance of regular, meaningful conversation and interaction with our children · Understand ‘self’ in self-esteem
· reclaiming a structured day
· breaking the cycle of anxiety and depression
· and much more
Upcoming Dates April 7 No School – Good Friday April 10 No School – Professional Day April 11 Open Minds – Telus Spark – Mrs. Williams April 13 Vaccinations for grade 6s April 13 Healthy Hunger – Opa April 18 Medicine River Wildlife Centre – Visit with 1/2s and Ks April 19 School Council 7 pm April 20 Pizza Lunch April 21 Save the date – evening community event *details to come April 25 Parent presentation – Tom Kersting - 6:30 pm
We wish families a most wonderful long weekend. Briar Hill Staff
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| Dear Briar Hill Families
Wow! The book sale was a tremendous success and generated great spirit among our school and the greater community. Thank you to all involved in the planning, organizing and seeing the event through to the end. We are also so grateful to everyone who generously donated books.
Briar Hill staff wish all our families a wonderful spring break filled with rest, time to rejuvenate and plenty of new memories. Hopefully the weather treats us to plenty of sunshine and lots of opportunity to be outside.
Healthy Hunger – date moved to April 13
To accommodate all classes, we have shifted the next Healthy Hunger date to Thursday, April 13th. If you have already ordered, it will be transferred over for you. Please order through https://healthyhunger.ca/ where you can register your student(s). Once your account is created you will be able to view the up-coming Fun Lunches, place orders and pay online with Visa or Mastercard. This program is completely optional and you can participate in all, some, or none of the lunches that are set up. Briar Hill School and Parent Council want to ensure that every child that wants to, can participate. Please do not hesitate to reach out directly to Ms LaMontagne should you have any financial concerns relating to these lunches.
Upcoming Dates April 3 First Day back April 3-6 Open Minds – Telus Spark – Mrs. Williams April 6 Leighton Centre – Mrs. Lawson & Mrs. Gerla April 7 No School – Good Friday April 10 PD Day – no school for students April 11 Open Minds – Telus Spark – Mrs. Williams April 13 Vaccinations for grade 6s April 13 Healthy Hunger
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| It was so wonderful to have families in our school for parent conferences. Thank you for taking time out of your busy lives to meet with your child’s teacher. While this is a formal time to connect with your child’s teacher, please know you can always reach out if you have any wonders or worries. Hopefully you are also finding the updates in your child’s agenda, the weekly emails, blogs and/or Instagram supportive of knowing what your child is currently learning. Additionally, please reach out should you have any feedback on the format of the conferences or our on-going communication. Parent Presentation – April 25 - 6:30 pm With thanks to the support of our School Council, and funds from the Alberta Government, we are pleased to share we are joining 5 other Elementary Schools to bring in Tom Kersting for a virtual parent evening. We will host interested parents in viewing the presentation together at Briar Hill or for those wanting to watch from the comfort of their home, a link will be sent out to families closer to the date. Tom Kersting is a nationally renowned psychotherapist, author and television contributor. He is the author of the bestselling book, Disconnected: How to Protect Your Kids From the Harmful Effects of Device Dependency and the newly released bestseller, Raising Healthy Teenagers: Equipping Your Child to Navigate the Pitfalls and Dangers of Teen Life. Tom is a regular, guest expert on many national television news and talk shows where he offers insight and advice about parenting, relationships and wellness. He lectures throughout the country. Tom's presentation description for our evening is: Raising Healthy, Happy Children in an Ever-Changing World
Our kids are experiencing an unprecedented sense of isolation, interacting virtually in a world that seems ever more fearful with each news cycle. They absorb and internalize the stress and anxiety they see on their parents' faces and on the phone, laptop, tablet, and TV screens that are ever before their eyes. Not surprisingly, their mental and physical health are suffering. As parents, we want to know how we can help.
In this presentation I’m going to help parents understand the mental, physical, and social toll that the changing world is having on their children. Thankfully there’s hope. I’ll provide proven strategies to help our children get back onto a healthy path by:
· Reducing screen time and increasing green time
· Developing robust social and emotional skills
· The importance of regular, meaningful conversation and interaction with our children · Understand ‘self’ in self-esteem
· Reclaiming a structured day
· Breaking the cycle of anxiety and depression Book Sale Wow, there has already been a tremendous amount of books donated and volunteer hours covered to prepare for Briar Hill’s book sale. Thank you for your immense support so far. There are still many spots to cover for volunteers, please use the sign-up genius to lend your time: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/409084ba8a929a3ff2-briar1#/ We continue to accept book donations through until March 16th. The book sale runs: March 20 Briar Hill Families only 3:30 to 6:00 pm March 21 Open to the community 9:00 to 6:00 pm March 22 Open to the community 9:00 to 8:00 pm with 2 for 1 madness 6 to 8 pm Pizza Lunch – March 16 A friendly reminder that our next pizza lunch is Wednesday, March 16. Orders are due before March 12 around midnight and can be ordered at: https://www.briarhillplayground.com/shop Order Online - remember to select your child's teacher from the dropdown menu once you have added pizza to your cart. This helps make the pizza delivery to each classroom more seamless, and ensures no students pizza ends up in the wrong classroom. Pizza lunch is a fundraiser for our School Council and supported by our grade 6 leaders who are responsible for delivering and handing out the pizza lunch. Unfortunately, as it is over the lunch hour, it is only for our grade one to six students. We want every child interested in eating pizza to be included, if you need support, please do not hesitate to reach out to Ms. La Montagne at erlamontagne@cbe.ab.ca On pizza day, please remember to send your child with a plate. School Council Please come join our council to connect with other parents, have a direct impact on your child’s school and learn about potential upcoming school events. Our next meeting is Wednesday, March 15th at 7 pm at Briar Hill School. The agenda and minutes from last month will be sent to families on Monday.
Upcoming Dates March 15 School Council 7 pm March 16 Pizza Lunch March 18 Bottle Drive 10 to 2 pm March 20-22 Book Sale March 24 Last day before Spring Break April 3 First day back April 3-6 Williams – Open Minds – Telus Spark April 6 Ms. Lawson and Mrs. Gerla – Leighton Art Centre April 7 No school – Good Friday April 10 No school for students – Professional Development Day April 13 Healthy Hunger *new date April 13 Grade 6 vaccinations April 20 Pizza Lunch
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Dear Briar Hill families,
We are thankful for the time we had today to work together as a staff on our own learning. Our focus was on universal supports for all students and strategies for emotional regulation in our classrooms. We also did a deeper dive to look at strategies and supports, and to collect data in order to strengthen student writing and engagement in tasks. This is on-going work that we continue to capitalize on the expertise of our staff and the rich resources available to us to plan for upcoming tasks for our students. Always happy to discuss in greater detail with parents, please simply reach out to engage in the conversation. This month is often referred to as the month of kindness. Research shows that when students feel safe, seen, cared for and a strong sense of belonging, that they are more successful in school. We also know that being kind and creating safe, inclusive spaces must be on-going and often complex work. One of our School Development plan goals is for students to identify at least one adult at Briar Hill School that they feel comfortable connecting with when they have a concern. We will continue to create opportunities and safe spaces for all students to feel connected and see themselves as valuable and important members of our school community. An important day in February is Pink Shirt day where we wear pink to symbolize that kindness always wins and to bring an end to bullying. We invite our Briar Hill community to show their support by wearing pink on February 22. February is also Black History month and there are many wonderful resources found on the Calgary Public Library site and the Joyful Learning website. https://calgarylibrary.ca/events-and-programs/upcoming-events/black-history-month/
https://kids.joyfullearning.net/black-history/?ck_subscriber_id=1951107555&utm_source=convertkit&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=We+are+so+excited+about+this+author+visit%21+%20-%209947595
Book Sale is back The 26th annual Briar Hill School Book Sale is fast approaching! Mark your calendars for March 20-22nd . We will begin accepting your contributions of gently loved books March 6th. Friendly reminder we do not accept Textbooks, Magazines, DVD’s/CD’s or Encyclopedias. Looking forward to the excitement of the sale—our kids really love this time of year! More information and volunteer opportunities to follow soon!
Art in Motion We are looking forward to our upcoming artist residency with Jen from Art in Motion. The artist met with staff today to plan our work together. Each grade team has chosen a curricular area or theme such as resiliency to lift and enrich through movement for their residency work together. The residency will take place on Mondays and Tuesdays starting February 13 and run for 6 weeks. Thank you to the School Council for supporting this endeavour through our casino funds.
Student Council Our grade 6 students continue to amaze us at Briar Hill. They have recently formed a Student Council in hopes to plan and support their school, as well as support the work of our School (parent) council. There are 15 students committed to this work who bring a rich diversity of skills, talents and perspectives. One of their initial ideas is to create quiet corners in classrooms and the learning commons for students to access as they recognize students need different things to be able to learn at their best. More information to come as they may be seeking donations of items to create the spaces in our school. They are also interested in creating fun and exciting opportunities for our younger students, possible fundraising initiatives for our playground and conservation initiatives for our community.
Next Year Registration has opened for next year Kindergarten students. It is also a time when we start to plan for next year. If you know your family will be moving either out of the community or city, and therefore not returning to Briar Hill, please let your child’s teacher know and/or connect with us in the office. If you know of any families new or moving to our community, please encourage them to contact the school so we can connect with them and get their registration completed.
Upcoming Dates Feb 13 Art in Motion Residency begins Feb 16-17 Teacher’s Convention – no school for students Feb 20 Family Day – no school Feb 22 School Council 7 pm Feb 23 Youthlink – Grade 6 students Feb 23 Pizza lunch * date may change as our grade 6 students are off site March 2 Healthy Hunger Lunch March 6 Book donations accepted March 9 -10 Parent Teacher Conferences March 9 No school for Kindergarten due to conferences March 10 No school for all students due to conferences March 16 Pizza Lunch March 20-22 Book Sale March 24 Last day of school before Spring Break
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| Briar Hill January Update |
Dear Briar Hill families,
We hope everyone has settled back into routines after a lovely winter break. It is hard to believe it has already been two weeks and January will be over before we know it! Welcome to the year of the rabbit to all our families celebrating Chinese New Year. Many of our amazing students shared their traditions and ways of welcoming in the new year. The painting of our hallways and bulletin boards has been completed, making everything look new and fresh. Our beautiful school logo is proudly displayed in our front hallway and in our gym. We welcome you to stop inside to take a look.
Celebrating Judith Bishop We are quickly approaching Ms. Bishop’s last day of teaching before she retires. We are exceptionally proud and fortunate to have Judith Bishop teach at Briar Hill for the past 24 years. She has truly impacted so many students, colleagues and our greater community. On Friday, January 27, we will gather our students and staff to celebrate and honour Ms. Bishop. I am also happy to announce that Mrs. Cassandra Miller (formally Ms. Boland) will take over the teaching responsibilities for Ms. Bishop’s class. Please join me in congratulating Mrs. Cassandra Miller and welcoming her back to Briar Hill School. Mrs. Miller worked at Briar Hill last year, teaching grade one/two and therefore comes with experience both with the age group, the grade group teaching team, and our greater school community. This year, she has been a regular substitute in our school this year.
Report Cards January 30 Our grade 1 to 6 teachers have been busy working on completing our first round of report cards for our grades one to six students. The report card will be live to view through your MyCBE account starting on Monday, January 30th. The report card represents students learning from the beginning of the school year until now. It is in addition to the on-going communication through the year, and conversations at parent teacher conferences. It demonstrates student achievement of what a student knows and understands in relation to the Alberta Curriculum learning outcomes. This year, the CBE has made some changes to the indicator stems (where you see the numbers 1 to 4) to reflect the new provincial English Language Arts, Math and Physical Education & Wellness curriculum. Additionally, to accommodate the time needed to become familiar with teaching and assessing the new curriculum, the CBE has paused the reporting of Results 3 (Citizenship), Results 4 (Personal Development) and Results 5 (Character) for the 2022-23 school year. As communicated earlier in the year by CBE and our Kindergarten team, the Calgary Board of Education is changing how, and how often, we formally communicate progress for Kindergarten learners. Last year, families received a report card in January and June. This year, families will receive only a June report card. Our next parent conferences are March 9th and 10th.
Art in Motion Through movement Art in Motion dives into Alberta curriculum, using embodied learning and kinaesthetic inquiry as the platform. Students use movement to learn and explore concepts and achieve depth in discovery via a creative process. In this process, curriculum and movement are completely integrated. Students explore and demonstrate knowledge and skills through their embodied learning experience.
Casino Purchases We are very excited to welcome new purchases to Briar Hill through our casino funds. Thank you again to all the families who volunteered their time to make this possible. Most recently, we have purchased document cameras to be able to project student work, a book or work samples onto the smartboard to showcase learning and provide examples for tasks. We also purchased mini whiteboards to use as a non-permanent writing tool for learning. Research has shown us that students are willing to take greater risks with their learning and engage more readily in the tasks knowing it doesn’t have the same permanence on a page. We are also currently in the process of purchasing a few more items such as an inflatable indoor/outdoor Ga-Ga ball court, Spheros and new STEM materials for classrooms. We will share with you as they start to arrive in our school.
Healthy Hunger Our next Healthy Hunger lunch is scheduled for Thursday, February 2 and is Subway Lunch. Please order through https://healthyhunger.ca/ where you can register your student(s). Once your account is created you will be able to view the up-coming Fun Lunches, place orders and pay online with Visa or Mastercard. This program is completely optional and you can participate in all, some, or none of the lunches that are set up. Briar Hill School and Parent Council want to ensure that every child that wants to, can participate. Please do not hesitate to reach out directly to Ms LaMontagne at erlamontagne@cbe.ab.ca should you have any financial concerns relating to these lunches. Unfortunately, the Healthy Hunger lunch is only available for our grade one to six students. Please use this guide to help you set up an account :Parents_healthy hunger.pdf
Upcoming Dates January 26 Pizza Lunch January 27 Ms. Bishop’s last day January 30 Report Cards February 1 Winter Walk February 2 Healthy Hunger – Subway
February 3 PD Day – no school for students
February 13 Art in Motion Residency begins
February 16-17 Teacher’s Convention – No school for students February 20 Family Day – No school February 22 School Council 7 pm
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| To our amazing Briar Hill community, As we prepare to bring this year to a close and head into our winter break, we wanted to take some time to express our deep gratitude for the tremendous support from all our families. We feel so fortunate to be surrounded by an incredibly supportive community where everyone works together for the common good of all students in our building. Thank you for trusting your children with us.
Thank you to all who gift their time on our School Council. Your energy, engagement and enthusiasm greatly enrich our school community.
I would also like to express my gratitude to the grade 5/6 leaders who have volunteered their time as Office Assistant, and most recently to support our younger students during our long stretch of indoor recess time. They have really stepped up and supported our school and students. True leaders. It is our hope that you and your family have a safe, relaxing and wonderful winter break. We very much look forward to reconnecting as a school community in 2023 when we return to school on Monday, January 9th.
School Council Please join us for our next Council meeting on Wednesday, January 18. It will be an important meeting as we need to vote on new bylaws for our council, specifically the fundraising portion of our council. The proposed bylaws can be read here: Briar Hill School Foundation Bylaws.doc
Winter Solstice The winter solstice is a celebration of the light returning to Turtle Island. It is the shortest day of the year; the Sun will now begin to shine for longer each day bringing the promise of warmer weather, growth, and new life. It has been shared that the Solstice begins a new year in Blackfoot tradition. We welcome you to watch the following Winter Solstice teachings by Elder Saa’kokoto https://youtu.be/rEdZNSqDwzk Reflections from Ms. Lawson’s class after viewing the Winter Solstice teaching - This is the time to reflect on the year.
- Winter is a time to re-set your mind and your heart.
- Take time to go on a long walk.
- It is time to forget about the negative things and focus on the positives. The positives always outweigh the negatives.
Kindergarten Registration With the new year right around the corner, it is time to start thinking about Kindergarten Registration for the 2023-2024 school year! Registration for all CBE schools starts on January 16th and is on-going from there. For more information, please click on the PDF. You can also reach out if you have any wonders. https://www.cbe.ab.ca/programs/kindergarten/Documents/Kindergarten-Registration-Guide.pdf
School Development Plan Every year we work together as a staff to look at our school’s report card data, student and parent survey data and reflect on our professional knowledge of the students in our classrooms to consider our best next steps for learning. Through our critical analysis of the data, we create goals and a plan to improve student learning and teacher instruction. We set goals in the areas of Literacy, Mathematics and Well-being. It is these goals that set the direction for our professional learning and collective work together for the year. A detailed copy of our 2022-2023 School Development Plan that includes student goals, instructional actions, resources, key outcomes and measures, is posted on our school webpage, along with our School Resullts Report and Fee Report to parents: https://school.cbe.ab.ca/school/BriarHill under the About Us > Our School tab.
Support for Literacy and Numeracy Learning We are thrilled to share our school received funding for a temporary 0.4 position (2 days a week) from January 9 until March 24 to support literacy and numeracy learning for students in grade 2, 3 and 4. Ms. Marianna Makkai will be joining us to support this work. Marianna worked with our school last year and has become a regular guest teacher at Briar Hill. She comes from a strong background of teaching and learning with prior experience working on targeted intervention work to move learning forward.
Upcoming Key Dates Monday, January 9 | First Day Back | Wednesday, January 18 | School Council & Foundation Meeting *vote on new bylaws | Thursday, January 26 | Pizza Lunch | Monday, January 30 | Report Cards Available for Viewing through PowerSchool | Thursday, February 2 | Healthy Hunger Lunch | Friday, February 3 | Non-Instructional Day – No school for Students | February 16 & 17 | Teacher’s Convention – No school for Students | Monday, February 20 | Family Day – No school | February 13 | Residency begins with Art In Motion *more information to come
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| | | Briar Hill First Day Information
We hope everyone had a wonderful Summer Break. We are thrilled to welcome students back to the building in a more typical way!! You should have received your child's welcome email from their teacher. Please know teachers have been busy planning and preparing for Thursday, September 1st and cannot wait to meet your child. If your child is with a teacher they were not expecting or with new peers, please give your child time and the opportunity to meet new people. Usually after a week, they have settled right in and met some amazing new friends. Classrooms will also be very collaborative and students will have opportunities to be with one another during their outdoor play time. Feeling nervous, excited and/or worried about school is normal and expected – even for teachers and parents! This resource might be helpful to consider for your child and/or family: https://www.anxietycanada.com/articles/coping-with-back-to-school-anxiety/ All grade one to six staff will be outside on the field and compound starting at 8:30 am, ready to greet your child. The grade one/two classes will meet their teacher on the compound. The grade three/four classes will meet their teacher on the field near the trees and rocks. The grade five/six classes will meet their teacher on the further end of the field. If your child is in Kindergarten, you will be meeting at the front of the school at your staggered entry time. You also should have received a Kindergarten specific email. General Information Thank you for supporting your child's return to school by sending them with a backpack, water bottle, healthy snack and lunch, if they stay at school for lunch. Similar to last year, students will have designated doors to enter and exit the building. They will learn and practice these doors during the first few days back so it is familiar. If your child stays for lunch, they will be eating in their own classroom. You will receive a back to school package through school messenger from CBE with important information and forms to be completed. Next week, you will also receive paper forms for a few other items from the school to be completed and returned. We apologize ahead of time for all the paperwork. If your child is going to be absent, late or leaving early for an appointment, please inform the office at 403-777-6140 or email briarhill@cbe.ab.ca. If you are picking up a child during the day please call the office ahead and we will do our best to have them ready to go. Thank you in advance for your on-going support. If you also want to let your child's teacher know, great, but please know they are not able to check their email when they are with students. New Attendance Code: As part of CBE's commitment to “acknowledge and support the implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action" (CBE Education Plan, 2021-24), a new attendance code has been introduced for the 2022/2023 school year. The new Cultural-Spiritual-Ceremonial (CSC) attendance code offers an excused absence from school to recognize and support Indigenous cultural revitalization for CBE students who self-identify as Indigenous, and their families. Many Indigenous students and families rely on their Indigenous culture, spirituality, and ceremony to support their health and well-being. This includes the right to traditional hunting and gathering experiences. While the CBE has introduced the CSC code as an act of reconciliation, the code can be accessed for all students and is intended to support participation in cultural, spiritual or ceremonial events. CBE recognizes that these activities may not be considered by many families as a Religious Holiday (RH), and the inclusion of the CSC code will allow for a more inclusive response to reporting these absences. The RH code will remain available when this more appropriately captures the reason for absence. | Code | Description | Explanation | | CSC | Cultural-Spiritual-Ceremonial | Student is absent to participate in a cultural, spiritual or ceremonial event. |
Should you have any questions please contact the office directly. School Council Welcome Please enjoy the welcome newsletter from our School Council chairs, Alessandra Robertson and Jodi Wilson. We encourage families to join us for the first School Council meeting and AGM on Wednesday, Sept. 21st. More information to come. Briar Hill Playground – Davidson Apple Fundraiser The playground committee is excited to offer Davison Orchard apple boxes as their first fundraiser. The boxes are already available to be ordered from our web store. Here is the link. They will also have information set up afterschool on Thursday and Friday near the playground. https://www.briarhillplayground.com/shop Upcoming September Dates | Thursday, September 1st | First day back for Gr 1 to 6 students. Kindergarten – staggered entry Thursday *no school Friday | | Monday, September 5th | No School – Labour Day | | Wednesday, September 21st | Welcome back BBQ 6 pm & School Council AGM 7 pm | | Thursday, September 23rd | Parent/Teacher conferences | | Friday, September 24th | Parent/Teacher conferences *no school for all students | | Thursday, September 30th | National Day for Truth and Reconciliation *no school |
We look forward to a wonderful school year!! Briar Hill Staff
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