| Weekly Message - March 13 | Important Dates to Remember: Spring Forward - we moved forward by one hour. Don't be late for school tomorrow! March 25 – April 2 Spring Break – School is Closed Grade 4 families – your assurance survey closes this Friday. Please fill out your Assurance Survey from the Alberta Government. School Spirit Day (Presented by the Grade 5 Leadership Students) March 17 – St. Patrick's day. Wear green, wear what makes you feel lucky. March 24 – Twin and triplet day. Dress the same as a friend or a group of friends, wear your hair the same as a friend or group of friends, wear your uniform – just like all of your school friends! Dear families, Thursday was a beautiful example of our amazing school culture at Chris Akkerman School. We have gone for so many years without welcoming families into schools that these opportunities continue to fill my heart and overwhelm my sense of joy and pride for our families, our students and our education team. Thank you for participating in your child’s student-led conference! It is beautiful to see our students take pride and leardership in their learning as they show their parents what they have been learning and why this learning is important. When a student is able to share what they are working on, what they have done well and what their next right step in learning is, we know we have all succeeded in touching the heart and mind of a young learner. Thank you for taking the time to listen to your child and allow them to direct you through their learning experiences. Thank you for your generous praise and wise interactions with your learner. Thank you for providing your child with feedback and for making this process a great learning opportunity for our students. Parents, you truly are our partners in educating our students. When you participate and take up the work, as you did on Thursday, everyone in our community benefits. Thank you for all you have done to make Student Led Conferences so successful! Dr. Bettesworth Education Matters If you wish to make a donation directly to Chris AKkerman School you may do so. THis is the link to make cash donations to the school. These donations are always greatfully accepted and will go directly to the school and benefit all students. Thank you for your kind generosity. Education Matters Donation Or copy and past this into your browser: https://www.educationmatters.ca/campaign/donate-to-a-specific-cbe-school/ Parent Alert We sadly need to update and request assistance in many areas that are not a typical part of my weekly message. I apologize in advance as this next section does not apply to all of our community. Please read and assist us in making our community a better place for everyone. Our goal, always: a safe, caring, welocming and respectful place for all! Traffic – the traffic outside of the school can be very dangerous at times. I worry that a child is going to be hit by a car every day. I worry that my team of educators will be hit by a parent in a hurry or not following traffic rules and city by laws. Please think of the safety of our students and the safety of our educational team at CAS. When you are driving around the school, kindly drive slowly. Please leave extra time to get to where you need to be. Please follow traffic law and city by-laws. Please be kind, respectful and safe. I never want to write a note about injuries, but I fear, this is coming soon given the way parent drivers are around the school. Please, kindly drive safe and slow. Bathroom Behaviours – we are certain the behaviours in our bathrooms are not at all like what is expected or tolerated in the bathrooms in your homes. We do need your help to assist us in teaching our students respectful bathroom behaviours. Lately, the troubles have been more focused on the boys bathroom, however, from time to time, all of our students need reminders. We are kind, respectful, and caring in our bathrooms. This means we don’t stand on toilet seats, look over or under stalls, enter a stall that already has one person in it. Paper is used to dry our hands and then it is put in the recycle bin. Paper is never thrown on the ceiling or walls. Toilet paper is used on our bottoms and then put directly into the toilet where it is then flushed. Personal items are never attempted to be flushed down the toilet nor are personal items put into the toilet as a prank. We never bang of stall doors, nor do we tease those who are in a stall looking after their business. We are hopeful our parents, as our partners in educating our students, are able to speak to their children about healthy and safe bathroom behaviorus so we can all use the facilities peacefully and safely. Virtues – the virtue of honesty is one I need to discuss with all families after our bookfair week. While our bookfair was a great success and it put books into the hands of many of our children. The bookfair also succeeded in allowing some students an opportunity to put tiny treasures in to pockets and bring them home. It also provided an opportunity for students to seek out the treasures of others and claim them as their own. If you child happens to have a new eraser, or a pen or bookmark or a tiny treasure that you didn’t purchase for them, it is quite likely it came from the bookfair or from a classmate who spent their own money on the treasure. If you find thing that do not belong to your child, kindly send them back to school and the teacher will sort out next steps. This should be looked at as a learning opportunity for all. We have learned and have decided that our future book fairs will not include the tiny treasures such as erasers, book marks, pencils and tiny trinkets. This is simply too enticing for young children. The loss this year at our spring book fair was simply too much and the temptation for our young learners too much. Toys and treasures at school – please do not allow your child to bring toys and cards etc to school. This includes Pokemon cards, cars, sports cards, and toys. If students insist on bringing toys to school, the teacher we confiscate them and they will need to be picked up by a parent. It is distracting to have at school and from time to time these treasures get lost. Please don’t send these items to school. When a teacher makes a specific request for items to be brought to school for an educational purpose, then this is managed by the teacher. Otherwise, kindly leave your toys at home. Chris Akkerman School Engagement Opportunity Many, many families participated in this great opportunity for feedback at our Student Led Conference - thank you! If you haven’t yet shared your feedback, please provide us with feedback on the Chris Akkerman Budget, Fees, and School Council. There are about 8 questions on this survey. It shouldn't take longer than about 5 minutes to complete. We are eager to hear what fieldtrip and residency opportunities families would like their child to participate in. We are also eager to hear what fees for fiend trips and activities should be set for next year. We look forward to your feedback. The survey is currently open, it will close on March 15. ***This is available in many languages. Please select the language that works for you in the top corner. Please forgive any language errors as the translation piece is not perfect. Engagement Survey Alberta Education Assurance Survey Grade 4 families, each year Alberta Education conducts a survey and seeks your feedback. The Alberta Education Assurance Survey is now open. It will close later in March. Alberta Education uses the Assurance Survey as a way for school authorities to measure their success and assess their progress towards meeting their learning goals. Parents / Legal Guardians of children in grade 4 will receive their survey in the mail. You are encouraged to complete the survey online. Students and all teachers will complete their surveys online at school. Your voice matters. Your participation in the survey helps provide important information on the quality of education your child is receiving. Alberta Education and Calgary Board of Education thank you for returning the parent Assurance Survey promptly. If you have questions or need a link to fill in the survey, please contact Ms Bauman at djbauman@cbe.ab.ca |
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| CAS Weekly Message March 5 | Important Dates to Remember March 1 – March 8 – On-line booking for Student Led Conferences Opened 6PM March 1 and closes at noon on March 8. Book through your mycbe account. March 6 – 9 Scholastic Book Fair March 9 – Student Led Conference (Registration to open March 1 6PM) March 9 – School Council (Learning Commons) 7PM March 10 – Professional Development Day (No school for students) March 25 – April 2 Spring Break – School is Closed School Spirit Day (Presented by the Grade 5 Leadership Students) March 3 – Casual Friday (Wear your Chris Akkerman Cubs T-Shirt, Wear School colours, Wear your uniform) March 17 – St. Patrick's day. Wear green, wear what makes you feel lucky. March 24 – Twin and triplet day. Dress the same as a friend or a group of friends, wear your hair the same as a friend or group of friends, wear your uniform – just like all of your school friends! Dear Chris Akkerman Families Our French Festival, lead by Mme. Fontanne was a great success. Thank you Mme. Fontanne! Students participated in collaborative and cultural games in the gym. Ask them about the game with the ropes and ball, or about the chickens and eggs. Outside students were treated to “caban a sucre" maple syrup on a stick. While outside they also played Acadian games such as Tug-O-War, Sack Races, and a unique relay where they tied a sash around their waist and pulled a small log a short distance. Ask your child how the maple sugar treat tasted or how they made the treat. You might also want to ask them about the musical experience they had with Mme. Costinak, they played an instrument you could easily find in your kitchen. Again, another great cultural opportunity. The special events outside, in the gym, and in the music room were supplemented by some great classroom based activities for each grade as well. Ask your child about the beards. All students participated in the French festival, there was energy, enthusiasm and plenty of laughter as all of our community was given the opportunity to learn and participate in some great cultural events. Great fun and amazing learning was had by all. A huge should out to the incredible volunteers who assisted us, Mme. Fontanne and our first class CAS team who helped lead all of the fun French learning activities. Dr. Bettesworth Principal We need parent volunteers! Thank you to all of the parents who came out to assist with the French Festival – you helped to make the day fantastic! Scholastic Book Fair – March 6-10 We need parents to assist with this fundraising event. Several parents have signed up, we still need more help. We need a Book Fair Coordinator. We can help you learn what needs to be done. A Book Fair Coordinator helps with set up, take down, advertising the event, organizing volunteers, collecting and counting all cash transactions. Parent Volunteers – We need parents to cover the following shifts at minimum Wednesday 7:30 – 2:30 (any amount of hours during this time is appreciated – police clearance required) Thursday 7:30 – 11:30 (any amount of hours during this time is appreciated – police clearance required) Thursday 2:00 – 3:45 (no police clearance is needed to assist with this time) Thursday 4:45 – 8:00 (no police clearance is needed to assist with this time) Friday 8:00 – 12:00 Take down and clean up (No police clearance is required to assist this date) Student Led Conferences On March 9 all parents are welcome to come with their child to experience a Student Led Conference. It is essential that your child is present for the conference. Using your mycbe account, please sign-up for a 25-minute time slot. Sign-up for conferences began on March 1 at 6pm and will end on March 8 at noon. Kindergarten times slots on March 9: 2:00, 2:30, 3:00, 5:00, 5:30, 6:00, 6:30, 7:00 Gr 1-5 time slots on March 9: 3:00, 5:00, 5:30, 6:00, 6:30, 7:00 Kindergarten classes will have additional time slots to accommodate all of the kindergarten learners. Some kindergarten conference times will be during class time, while others will be later in the day. Thursday Kinders will be participating in special learning opportunities with our Music and French teachers while their classes are open for Student Led Conferences. Gr 1 – 5 families will have an opportunity to attend a conference immediately following student dismissal on Thursday or during the early evening on Thursday March 9. It will be important for all families to arrive on time for their conference as conference times will need to begin and end on time to accommodate all CAS families. Children are preparing with their teachers to share their current and most recent learning and next steps in learning in math, reading, and writing. Many classrooms will also have health, science, social studies, and well bing activities available for your children to share with you. The music room will be open for your child to share what has been happening in music. French will be shared within some classes and in the Learning Commons for other classes. Before you attend Student Led Conferences, please ensure you have reviewed your child's report card on line. This is a great opportunity to reflect on the current learning discussed and shared in the report card, their next steps and best ways to support your student learner. It is also hoped you will see many curricular areas, not written about in the report card but where indicators of achievement were shared. If a picture is worth 1000 words, imagine what an experience is worth. We encourage all families to take this time to examine their child's work and how it relates to what was shared in the report card. We encourage you to find their strengths and their personal areas of growth and celebrate this with your child. Parents, during the conference, you will be asked to provide your child with feedback that will include both celebrations of what your child has achieved and your greatest hopes for the remainder of the school year. Student Led Conferences are a wonderful opportunity for you to connect with your child about their learning. Please allow your child to take the lead and share with you. During Student Led Conferences there will be approximately 5-7 other families in your child's designated space also participating in this learning and celebratory opportunity. This is the time to celebrate and acknowledge the hard work your child has done to date. This is not the time to conference with the teacher. If you have specific questions for the classroom teacher, please make an appointment with them for a telephone call, face to face meeting, or an on-line TEAMs meeting to discuss your child's learning. Due to privacy, Student Led Conferences are not the time for specific discussions with your child's teacher. Thank you for your understanding. Please note – the school office will be open to pay fees and begin your police clearance processes. The gym will be home to the Scholastic Book Fair – if we are able to secure enough parent volunteers. School Council will host a meeting in the Learning Commons beginning at 7PM Chris Akkerman School Engagement Opportunity Please provide us with feedback on the Chris Akkerman Budget, Fees, and School Council. There are about 8 questions on this survey. It shouldn't take longer than about 5 minutes to complete. We are eager to hear what fieldtrip and residency opportunities families would like their child to participate in. We are also eager to hear what fees for fiend trips and activities should be set for next year. We look forward to your feedback. The survey is currently open, it will close on March 15. ***This is available in many languages. Please select the language that works for you in the top corner. Please forgive any language errors as the translation piece is not perfect. CAS School Engagement http://chrisakkerman.cbedialogue.com/en/projects/chris-akkerman-planning-engagement-2022-2023/engagements/chris-akkerman-school-planning-survey-2023-elementary (please use the link above or copy and paste this into your browser) Alberta Education Assurance Survey Grade 4 families, each year Alberta Education conducts a survey and seeks your feedback. The Alberta Education Assurance Survey is now open. It will close later in March. Alberta Education uses the Assurance Survey as a way for school authorities to measure their success and assess their progress towards meeting their learning goals. Parents / Legal Guardians of children in grade 4 will receive their survey in the mail. You are encouraged to complete the survey online. Students and all teachers will complete their surveys online at school. Your voice matters. Your participation in the survey helps provide important information on the quality of education your child is receiving. Alberta Education and Calgary Board of Education thank you for returning the parent Assurance Survey promptly. If you have questions or need a link to fill in the survey, please contact Ms Bauman at djbauman@cbe.ab.ca
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| | | Chris Akkerman Weekly Message Feb 26 | Important Dates to Remember: February 28 – Assembly day. Formal Uniforms Please. Sadly, we do not have space inour gym to accommodate families for this event. March 1-3 Letters of Acceptance and Wait list letters will be sent electronically to families. Please do NOT call the school about lottery. We are doing the very best we can, this process takes time. Every call about the lottery delays the process for everyone. March 1 – On-line booking for Student Led Conferences Opens 6PM March 9 – Student Led Conference (Registration to open March 1 - 6PM) March 9 – School Council (Learning Commons) 7PM March 10 – Professional Development Day (No school for students) March 25 – April 2 Spring Break – School is Closed School Spirit Day (Presented by the Grade 5 Leadership Students) March 3 – Casual Friday (Wear your Chris Akkerman Cubs T-Shirt, Wear School colours, Wear your uniform) March 17 – St. Patrick's day. Wear green, wear what makes you feel lucky. March 24 – Twin and triplet day. Dress the same as a friend or a group of friends, wear your hair the same as a friend or group of friends, wear your uniform – just like all of your school friends! We need parent volunteers! French Festival – March 2 (all day). We need parent support in the gym and outside helping our students with cultural activities. We can't do this without you. Even an hour of your help is appreciated. Please e-mail your classroom teacher or call the office. We need you to ensure this event is a success for all of our students. If you have a police clearance, please consider helping us out on this day! Scholastic Book Fair – March 6-10 We need parents to assist with this fundraising event or the event will be either shortened or cancelled. We need a Book Fair Coordinator. We can help you learn what needs to be done. A Book Fair Coordinator helps with set up, take down, advertising the event, organizing volunteers, collecting and counting all cash transactions. Parent Volunteers – We need parents to cover the following shifts at minimum Wednesday 7:30 – 2:30 (any amount of hours during this time is appreciated – police clearance required) Thursday 7:30 – 2:30 (any amount of hours during this time is appreciated – police clearance required) Thursday 2:45 – 3:45 (no police clearance is needed to assist with this time) Thursday 4:45 – 8:00 (no police clearance is needed to assist with this time) Friday 8:00 – 12:00 Take down and clean up (No police clearance is required to assist this date) Chris Akkerman School Engagement Opportunity Please provide us with feedback on the Chris Akkerman Budget, Fees, and School Council. There are about 8 questions on this survey. It shouldn't take longer than about 5 minutes to complete. We are eager to hear what fieldtrip and residency opportunities families would like their child to participate in. We are also eager to hear what fees for fiend trips and activities should be set for next year. We look forward to your feedback. The survey is currently open, it will close on March 15. ***This is available in many languages. Please select the language that works for you in the top corner. Please forgive any language errors as the translation piece is not perfect. Engagement Survey Alberta Education Assurance Survey Grade 4 families, each year Alberta Education conducts a survey and seeks your feedback. The Alberta Education Assurance Survey is now open. It will close later in March. Alberta Education uses the Assurance Survey as a way for school authorities to measure their success and assess their progress towards meeting their learning goals. Parents / Legal Guardians of children in grade 4 will receive their survey in the mail. You are encouraged to complete the survey online. Students and all teachers will complete their surveys online at school. Your voice matters. Your participation in the survey helps provide important information on the quality of education your child is receiving. Alberta Education and Calgary Board of Education thank you for returning the parent Assurance Survey promptly. If you have questions or need a link to fill in the survey, please contact Ms Bauman at djbauman@cbe.ab.ca Attendance and Lates Students arriving to school with time to spare have the luxury of settling in, greeting their teachers and classmates, and focusing their minds on the lessons to come. Students arriving late miss out on this natural transition period, and chronic tardiness may cause students to struggle with academic focus and relationships with peers. Showing up on time to school every day can help students develop the habit of being punctual, illustrates to them your commitment to their learning and friendships, and helps reduce classroom interruptions and distractions for all students. Missing just 15 minutes of school twice a week equates to 3 missed school days per year! Please ensure your child arrives to school on time. If you need support with ideas on how to arrive at school on time please reach out to your classroom teacher or Ms. Bauman djbauman@cbe.ab.ca as they will be happy to help. Lunchroom Registration and Fees All families with outstanding fees will receive letters indicating your fees owed at our Student Led Conferences. At conferences you will be able to come to the office and pay your fees using the interact machine if you have been unsuccessful paying these fees on line. We are unable to accept CASH payments as the school is not set up to accept cash. It is important that all families log into their myCBE account to pay the fees for lunchroom, transportation, and fieldtrips/ recorders. These fees will not go away. In fact, the CBE does send families to collections if fees are not paid in a timely manner. If you are unable to pay your fees, please connect with the school at conferences. THe window for seeking assistance is quickly approaching. The CBE does not look favourably upon families who wait too long to connect with the school about unpaid fees. Please connect with the school as soon as possible if the current fees cannot be paid. Dressing for the Weather When students don't wear mitts/ gloves when it is cold they will keep their hands in their pockets. The trouble is, these days the school grounds are covered with ice. When kids have their hands in their pockets and they slip on the ice they will often cut their chin, cut their lips, their teeth will go through either their tongue or their lips - requiring stitches. It is best practice to walk with our hands out prepared to catch ourselves should we slip or fall. Please send your child with gloves/ mitts. Children are excited to play in the snow when the weather permits. Children need boots, snow pants, winter coat and good mitts to play in the snow. All students will be spending time outside several times each day. Please ensure your child is dressed for the weather. Uniforms Part of being in a TLC school is the uniform. Students need to follow the uniform requirements. We will begin notifying students and their families of problems with their uniform. Thank you for assisting our amazing students in representing TLC well by following the uniform expectations! Some highlights: · Pants, leggings, sweat pants are never worn under a tunic. Socks or leotards are worn under a tunic. Shorts are also great to wear under a tunic, but they should never be visible. · If a student is cold at school, they should be wearing their cardigan, not a hoodie from their favourite sport's team. · If you are wearing pants, they are pants/ trousers/ slacks. Jeans, sweat pants, leggings are not part of the school uniform. · If students are wearing a shirt underneath their dress shirt, it should be white. · Dress shirts should be white, not grey, not stained. · Fancy coloured socks are part of weekend wear and are not part of the school uniform. · Formal days include cardigans, tunics, ties for those wearing a dress shirt and pants. · Hair accessories and heat coverings should match the TLC colours if at all possible. Taking pride in how we dress is an important part of being a TLC student. Wearing the TLC uniform correctly and proudly will improve student confidence. We look forward to celebrating how great the students look in their uniform this coming week. Did you know, a quick Kijiji or Facebook Market Place search results in many uniform pieces being sold at a very reduced price. Did you know that Once Upon A Child has many uniform pieces for sale in their store. DId you know Walmart, Old Navy, The Gap sell navy bottoms and white tops that work with our school uniform. Thank you for your care in ensuring the uniform is respected and worn with pride. French Festival!! Chris Akkerman's Francophone Festival Celebration is on Thursday, March 2, 2023. This Festival will last most of the day and will take place inside and outside the school. Therefore, please make sure your child comes to school dressed for the weather with tuques, mittens and snow pants. Our school staff and 'Canadian Maple Shack Inc.' will run the carnival. As part of our Festival each student will be provided with a Traditional Canadian Maple Syrup Candy, which is authentic maple syrup rolled on snow using a popsicle stick. Students will also be participating in authentic Francophone games/activities, such as tug-o-war, sack races and musical spoons. Students are encouraged to dress as a Francophone would dress. Examples of how to dress would be plaid shirt, tuques, or even a traditional Métis style sash around the waist (Ceinture Fléchée). Please see French Google Classroom for more examples. Of course, students can always wear their casual uniform. · If your child is not able to eat the Maple Syrup candy (Maple Syrup cookies for M/Wed Kindergarten students), please put a note in your child's agenda indicating your decision. · If you are able to volunteer and have security clearance, please let your child's teacher know. Should the weather not cooperate this event will be rescheduled. We are looking forward to this event and celebrating French Canadian culture, history and Indigenous connections. Merci, Mrs. Fontanne FSL Teacher Student Led Conferences On March 9 all parents are welcome to come with their child to experience a Student Led Conference. It is essential that your child is present for the conference. Using your mycbe account, please sign-up for a 25-minute time slot. Sign-up for conferences will begin on March 1 at 6pm and will end on March 8 at noon. Kindergarten times slots on March 9: 2:00, 2:30, 3:00, 5:00, 5:30, 6:00, 6:30, 7:00 Gr 1-5 time slots on March 9: 3:00, 5:00, 5:30, 6:00, 6:30, 7:00 Kindergarten classes will have additional time slots to accommodate all of the kindergarten learners. Some kindergarten conference times will be during class time, while others will be later in the day. Thursday Kinders will be participating in special learning opportunities with our Music and French teachers while their classes are open for Student Led Conferences. Gr 1 – 5 families will have an opportunity to attend a conference immediately following student dismisal on Thursday or during the early evening on Thursday March 9. It will be important for all families to arrive on time for their conference as conference times will need to begin and end on time to accommodate all CAS families. Children are preparing with their teachers to share their current and most recent learning and next steps in learning in math, reading, and writing. Many classrooms will also have health, science, social studies, and well bing activities available for your children to share with you. The music room will be open for your child to share what has been happening in music. French will be shared within some classes and in the Learning Commons for other classes. Before you attend Student Led Conferences, please ensure you have reviewed your child's report card on line. This is a great opportunity to reflect on the current learning discussed and shared in the report card, their next steps and best ways to support your student learner. It is also hoped you will see many curricular areas, not written about in the report card but where indicators of achievement were shared. If a picture is worth 1000 words, imagine what an experience is worth. We encourage all families to take this time to examine their child's work and how it relates to what was shared in the report card. We encourage you to find their strengths and their personal areas of growth and celebrate this with your child. Parents, during the conference, you will be asked to provide your child with feedback that will include both celebrations of what your child has achieved and your greatest hopes for the remainder of the school year. Student Led Conferences are a wonderful opportunity for you to connect with your child about their learning. Please allow your child to take the lead and share with you. During Student Led Conferences there will be approximately 5-6 other families in your child's designated space also participating in this learning and celebratory opportunity. This is the time to celebrate and acknowledge the hard work your child has done to date. This is not the time to conference with the teacher. If you have specific questions for the classroom teacher, please make an appointment with them for a telephone call, face to face meeting, or an on-line TEAMs meeting to discuss your child's learning. Due to privacy, Student Led Conferences are not the time for specific discussions with your child's teacher. Thank you for your understanding. Please note – the school office will be open to pay fees and begin your police clearance processes. The gym will be home to the Scholastic Book Fair – if we are able to secure enough parent volunteers. School Council will host a meeting in the Learning Commons beginning at 7PM |
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| Chris Akkerman Feb 3 Weekly Message | Important Dates to Remember: January 16 - Kindergarten lottery registration begins on-line (Please do not call the school) February 15 - TLC Lottery for 2023-24 school year February 16/17 - Teacher's Convention (No school for students) March 10 – Professional Development Day (No school for students) School Spirit Days (Presented by the Grade 5 Leadership Students) Feb 14 – Friendship, Kindness, Valentine's Day. Wear red, wear symbols of friendship, kindness and love. Feb 21 & 22 – Pink Shirt Day. Wear pink both days. All classes will be participating in lessons and activities about kindness, being an upstander, standing up against bullying. March 3 – Casual Friday March 17 – St. Patrick's day. Wear green, wear what makes you feel lucky. March 24 – Twin and triplet day Attendance and Lates The Calgary Board of Education recognizes the strong positive correlation between attendance and a student's success in school. Regular attendance sets students on the path to reaching their full potential. It is critical that parents, as partners in your child's learning, understand that chronic absenteeism (missing 10% or more of instructional time) and chronic lates can negatively influence a student's learning. Did you know? · By grade 6, regular attendance is a predictor of high school completion. · By grade 9, regular attendance is a better predictor of graduation rates than test scores. · Students who attend daily are less likely to fall behind in school. · Concerns with school attendance may indicate other challenges in a student's life. · Regular school attendance is an important life skill on the path to graduation and future employment. Lunchroom Registration and Fees Every family in CAS has had lunchroom fees added to their fees account. If you had previously registered for lunch and paid your fees and not pay your fees then yours will be up to date. If you did not register for lunch, your fees have been added since September. All families need to pay for the lunchroom supervision service. Kindly log into your mycbe account and pay for the service. Thank you. Dressing for the Weather We had two very cold days this past week. The office handed out over 30 pairs of mittens to students who arrived without mittens. There were dozens of students in running shoes when the temperature was colder than –20. Even more troubling was that over half of our students came to school without snow pants. We had students arrive at school with only a hoodie on. It is essential all students come to school dressed for the weather. Kindly ensure your child is dressed for the weather before they leave your home in the morning. We know Calgary can get cold, we also know the weather can change quickly. All students will be outside at the beginning of the day as well as at morning recess, at lunch recess, and possibly for learning opportunities. All students go outside up to –20C. Your child will enjoy this time outside if they are well dressed for the weather. Uniforms We know our families value and appreciate the uniform students wear. This past week, Ms. Brar's and Ms. Markusoff's classes were outstanding in how they wore the formal uniform on Tuesday at the assembly. Lately though, many students are not arriving at school in a proper uniform or even in a uniform at all. A few tips: · Pants, leggings, sweat pants are never worn under a tunic. Socks or leotards are worn under a tunic. Shorts are also great to wear under a tunic, but they should never be visible. · If a student is cold at school, they should be wearing their cardigan, not a hoodie from their favourite sport's team. · If you are wearing pants, they are pants/ trousers/ slacks. Jeans, sweat pants, leggings are not part of the uniform. · If students are wearing a shirt underneath their dress shirt, it should be white. · Dress shirts should be white, not grey, not stained. · Fancy coloured socks are part of weekend wear and are not part of the school uniform. · Formal days include cardigans, ties for those wearing a dress shirt and pants. · Hair accessories and heat coverings should match the TLC colours if at all possible. Taking pride in how we dress is an important part of being a TLC student. Wearing the TLC uniform correctly and proudly will improve student confidence. We look forward to celebrating how great the students look in their uniform this coming week.
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Weekly Message January 27 Chris Akkerman School | Important Dates to Remember: January 16 - Kindergarten lottery registration begins on-line (Please do not call the school) January 30 - Report Cards are available to all families via your mycbe account February 3 - Non-Instructional Day (No school for students) February 15 - TLC Lottery for 2023-24 school year February 16/17 - Teacher’s Convention (No school for students) Lunchroom Registration and Fees Every student at CAS remains at school for lunch. If you haven’t registered for lunchroom supervision, we will be registering you on Monday. All fees for lunchroom will be retroactive to the beginning of the school year. All families need to pay for the lunchroom supervision service. Currently only about 150 students have signed up for lunchroom supervision, yet we have 630 students who are here every day for lunch supervision. Kindly log into your mycbe account and register for lunchroom and pay for the service. Thank you. Math Games & Procedural Fluency The link below is a website developed by our very own Ms. Nelson! Within this website you will find math games and strategies that address both addition and subtraction. These strategies can be adapted from what is presented to make them relevant to younger children and older children. We hope you have fun exploring these great math strategies with your children. https://sites.google.com/educbe.ca/alternativestrategies/addition?authuser=0 CBE Report Cards By the end of January, your child’s report card will be available to view in your MyCBE account. The report card is one of the ways teachers communicate how your child is progressing in their learning. Teachers may also communicate learning progress through parent/teacher conferences, your child’s daily work and assignments, and other ongoing communication with you. In October, families received communication (K-6 New Curriculum | Revised Report Card) about changes to this year’s report card, which included information about updated reporting Stems. What to Expect in Your Child’s Report Card This fall, the CBE began implementing new curriculum in Mathematics and English Language Arts and Literature (K-3) and Physical Education and Wellness (K-6). Some of the learning outcomes in the new curriculum are new or may have previously been taught in later grades. This means that students may be learning new curriculum without having had instruction in related outcomes in the previous grade and may see grades lower than what they might previously have achieved. This is to be expected whenever new curriculum is introduced. It may take more than one school year to build these foundational skills. While curriculum is grade-specific, many concepts are revisited each year, giving students the opportunity to build on their previous knowledge and achieve success. Teachers work to plan the delivery of curriculum content in ways that are engaging, creative and inspiring and will continue to respond to the needs of students as we work through this transition together. As always, if you have specific questions about your child’s learning please connect with their teacher. Assessment and Reporting All families should be able to log into their Power School account on Monday January 30th to access your child’s January report card for 2022-2023 school year. As is always the case, we are hopeful you can provide us with a little bit of grace should things not go as planned when you log in. We are hopeful all will go smoothly. Should it not, know we will communicate with all families with next steps. We all love technology best when it works! We are hopeful all parents have had on-going opportunities to visit power school on their desktop computer. The experience and information offered on a desktop computer is thought to be significantly different from the experience on your cell phone. This year, teachers have spent a considerable amount of time sharing information about your child’s learning through Power School. Attendance: Please note, on the report card, every day is marked as two distinct pieces. We have both an AM and a PM part to all days except Friday. As such, your attendance will look like you have attended (or missed) many days. Please divide this attendance number in half for a better representation of the days present and away. Families will also notice, we are working towards being more “correct” in our word choice. As such, many teachers (not all) are using different pronouns than (he/she, him/her). Rather, teachers are using they, them, their. These changes are not errors but an effort at being more sensitive to our entire student population here at CAS. Attached here is a document shared widely within the CBE. CAS families are familiar with this document as we share it every year. This document assists us all in better understanding the indicators 1, 2, 3, 4 on our report card. Finally, at CAS we hope to be consistent within and across all grades in the writing of our report card. Below are terms we use when we are talking about student ability and achievement. When we use these indicator words we are matching them to the number listed at the top of the column. We share this to help families understand the thought we have put into assessment and reporting and to understand the subtleties between these words. This also allows us to be consistent within and across grades with the descriptors we use when speaking of a student’s achievement. 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Not Meeting | Basic | Good | Excellent | Not yet/Not yet meeting | Met | Below | Adequate | Adept | Comprehensive | Beginning | Concrete/Concretely | Capable | Exemplary | Insufficient | Developing | Clear | Expert | Limited | Novice | Competent | Extensive | Poor | Partial | Efficient | Comprehensive | Underdeveloped | Simplistic | Effective | Insightful | Vague | Satisfactory | In depth | Mastery | | | Proficient | Perceptive | | | Substantial | | | | Thorough | | | | Well-developed | | | | Well-reasoned | |
When you receive your child’s report card at the end of the month, if you do have any questions with what is recorded on the report card, please reach out to your child’s teacher. They know your child best as a learner and will be able to address any questions you might have. We hope you will celebrate the amazing achievement your child has made this term in learning as you explore all of the information shared in the report card. | |
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Weekly Message Chris Akkerman School | Important Dates to Remember: January 16 - Kindergarten lottery registration begins on-line (Please do not call the school) January 23 – Fun Lunch (you had to order by January 19th) January 26 - 6:30 PM Learning Commons - School Council Meeting - All welcome January 30 - Report Cards are available to all families via your mycbe account February 3 - Non-Instructional Day (No school for students) February 15 - TLC Lottery for 2023-24 school year February 16/17 - Teacher’s Convention (No school for students)
Math Games & Procedural Fluency Once students have an understanding of the concepts of addition and subtraction or multiplication and division, it is time to start working on their automaticity (the speed they can recall facts). Math games are a fun and engaging way to memorize basic facts. Math games are also considered a more authentic learning opportunity than practicing flash cards. Here is a game that can be changed to work on specific skills and strategies: Snap with Cards
School Council – Meets this Thursday evening. 6:30 in the CAS Learning Commons. We will be having a presentation on Math from our Math team at CAS, sharing updates on our School Development Plan, and discussing the $500 grant received by school council for parent engagement. THe best impact families can have on school is by participating in School Council. Your voice and your input is always welcome. Please consider joining this amazing group of parents as we make decisions that impact your child!
Weather It looks to be getting colder as the week progresses. Please ensure your child arrives at school with a warm coat, snow pants, mitts, boots and a tuque. All children are outside several times a day. Everyone is outside until the temperature with wind chill drops below –20C.
Assessment and Reporting All families should be able to log into their Power School account on Monday January 30th to access your child’s January report card for 2022-2023 school year. As is always the case, we are hopeful you can provide us with a little bit of grace should things not go as planned when you log in. We are hopeful all will go smoothly. Should it not, know we will communicate with all families with next steps. We all love technology best when it works! We are hopeful all parents have had on-going opportunities to visit power school on their desktop computer. The experience and information offered on a desktop computer is thought to be significantly different from the experience on your cell phone. This year, teachers have spent a considerable amount of time sharing information about your child’s learning through Power School. Attendance: Please note, on the report card, every day is marked as two distinct pieces. We have both an AM and a PM part to all days except Friday. As such, your attendance will look like you have attended (or missed) many days. Please divide this attendance number in half for a better representation of the days present and away. Families will also notice, we are working towards being more “correct” in our word choice. As such, many teachers (not all) are using different pronouns than (he/she, him/her). Rather, teachers are using they, them, their. These changes are not errors but an effort at being more sensitive to our entire student population here at CAS. Attached here is a document shared widely within the CBE. How is my child doing in school? This document assists us all in better understanding the indicators 1, 2, 3, 4 on our report card. Finally, at CAS we hope to be consistent within and across all grades in the writing of our report card. Below are terms we use when we are talking about student ability and achievement. When we use these indicator words we are matching them to the number listed at the top of the column. We share this to help families understand the thought we have put into assessment and reporting and to understand the subtleties between these words. This also allows us to be consistent within and across grades with the descriptors we use when speaking of a student’s achievement. 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Not Meeting | Basic | Good | Excellent | Not yet/Not yet meeting | Met | Below | Adequate | Adept | Comprehensive | Beginning | Concrete/Concretely | Capable | Exemplary | Insufficient | Developing | Clear | Expert | Limited | Novice | Competent | Extensive | Poor | Partial | Efficient | Comprehensive | Underdeveloped | Simplistic | Effective | Insightful | Vague | Satisfactory | In depth | Mastery |
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| Well-reasoned |
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When you receive your child’s report card at the end of the month, if you do have any questions with what is recorded on the report card, please reach out to your child’s teacher. They know your child best as a learner and will be able to address any questions you might have. We hope you will celebrate the amazing achievement your child has made this term in learning as you explore all of the information shared in the report card. |
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| Hello Chris Akkerman Families; Welcome back to school after a lovely break. It is great to see the smiling faces of our amazing students. The energy and enthusiasm for learning filled the school this week. I know this term will be filled with amazing learning opportunities. This month looks to be a busy one for all. Across Calgary we are all preparing for the beginning of Kindergarten registration. For those families with a Kindergarten aged student, we look forward to seeing their application in shortly. As a family member of the TLC program. Kindly support and assist your friends and neighbours who are filling out registration forms for the first time. we know the process can be daunting. We appreciate the support you can offer to your neighbours, family, and friends. Dr. Bettesworth Fun Lunch – Papa Johns Orders need to be in by Wednesday, Janaury 18th. Please use your Healthy Hunger log in to make your order. Fun lunch is Monday, January 23. For those students in Kindergarten, you may order if you are attending on Monday. Those students who attend Tuesday will have an opportunity to participate in Fun Lunch next month. Kinder families, please do not order if it is not your day. Thank you! Lunch Supervision – Updates Did you know we take attendance every day at lunch time to maintain accurate information on who is attending and participating in lunch supervision. If you have never registered your student for lunch supervision and they are attending, then you need to register them ASAP. Even without registering your child, you will get a bill for the months you have attended. Please ensure you register soon as the fee will just continue to add up. Thank you. Plastic cutlery – we are slowly coming to the end of our packages of 5000 forks and spoons. When these disposable plastic utensils are gone, then we will not provide students with any utensils. Kindly send your child with their own set of cutlery. This is a far more environmental decision. When we run out, and your child forgets their utensils, we will have them wash their hands and use their hands to eat. I am certain they will not forget again. Soup can be drunk from a thermos. We simply will not have any more cutlery once it is gone. Student pick-up at the end of the day Please call the school or write in your agenda if your end of day plans change. We are only able to assist with end of day changes until 1:45 PM as we need time to notify teachers, record information on bus lists, and ensure your child is going where you expect. If you have not called or are unable to call by 1:45, kindly go to yruo child's bus and let the driver and attendance monitor know you are taking your child. Please ensure you let the driver and bus monitor know as we h old up 8 buses, 500+ students at Chris Akkerman along with the on time bus departure at Chief Justice, when we hold the buses up. ~1000 students across 2 schools can be held up because of one late student or one student who has been picked up by their parent and no one in the school was notified. Thank you for your help with this. Attendance If your child is unable to attend school, please ensure you call the office and leave a message on the phone before school starts in the morning. Please speak slowly and clearly. Some of the messages are unclear and this makes it difficult to confirm attendance Thank you for taking the time to slow your conversation down and speak clearly, Volunteer Clearance Did you know that coming to the office with your ID and receiving a letter from the office is only the very first step of many. Once you receive your letter from the CAS office: 1. Go to the local police station with 2 pieces of government ID 2. Fill out the paper work at the police station 3. When the approval letter arrives at our home, please bring it into the office so we can clear you and you can begin to volunteer for us. It is easiest to go to the police station. Of course there is the option to fill this out on like. The on-line process can be rather daunting. My CBE Account This weekend please take the time to log into your MYCBE account. Once in, please pay for your lunch supervision fees, incidental fees, transportation fees, fieldtrip fees, school supply fees and any other fees you might still have in this folder IE Recorder for Div 2. This is great practice for viewing report cards as that will occur at the end of the month on your MyCBE account. It is difficult at best for the office staff to support you with your account. There is a help line to call should you need support. Parent Account Help is 403-817-6373 and they are there to help you with your needs and are much more informed. Here are a few tips if you need support with your MyCBE account: 1. Ask your children for support, especially if you have an older student. They are rarely afraid of technology or of breaking the on-line programs as we are. 2. Ask a trusted friend to help you. This person needs to be able to see your computer. 3. Ensure you have set up a parent account so you can; add your other children as needed, pay your school fees, view your children's report cards, book your parent conferences. 4. You can easily find out your username and reset your passwords by using the reset tool.
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| Chris Akkerman Weekly Message - Happy New Year! | Important Dates January 9 - Classes resume - See you Monday! January 12 - TLC Open House (for new families who wish to attend Chris Akkerman in the fall) 6:30 – 7:30 in the school gym. January 16 - Kindergarten lottery registration begins on-line (Please do not call the school) January 26 - 6:30 PM Learning Commons - School Council Meeting - All welcome January 30 - Report Cards are available to all families via your mycbe account February 3 - Non-Instructional Day (No school for students) February 15 - TLC Lottery for 2023-24 school year February 16/17 - Teacher's Convention (No school for students) Dear CAS Families Happy New Year Chris Akkerman Community! It is an honour and a privilege to work with our students, parent, staff, and the local community as a whole. Chris Akkerman School is a vibrant learning community with a strong and diverse student population. We are certain that CAS will continue to provide our students with a safe, caring and productive learning environment in the new year. We wish to thank you for your continued support of our amazing school and all who thrive within it! On behalf of the educational team here at CAS, we would like to wish all of our amazing families a Happy New Year. We hope the new year brings you joy, peace, great health and incredible learning opportunitites. Dr. Bettesworth Proud Principal of Chris Akkerman School January can bring cold weather All students will be outside before school starts, morning recess, and lunch recess, every day. WE are only inside at break times when the weather drops below –20 with wind chill. Kindly remember to dress your child for the weather. Dressing for the weather includes warm boots (not rain boots or fashion boots) warm winter jacket, warm hat, mitts, and snow pants. Thank you for dressing your child for the weather! On-Line Screen Time Apps Recently a few families (3 CAS families in total) have inquired about our RAZ kids account and Mathletics. They shared their disappointment that Chris Akkerman School was not funding the school wide subscriptions to both RAZkids and Mathletics. These were two computer based programs paid for by CA School Council for our families to use at home. Combined, these programs cost our school council several thousand dollars for school wide licenses for both. Sadly, we didn't have 50% participation in these two programs by our CAS families. This year, rather than encourage screen time and expensive programs, we would prefer to put books in the hands of students to advance their reading and provide families with math games to play to advance the procedural fluency of our students. Most Div 1 classes have started a home reading program. If your child has not started bringing home books, they will soon in the new year. Our Div 2 students (Gr 4/5) should be bringing home library books/ chapter books on a regular basis to read for pleasure. We will begin to share a math games via the weekly message that you can play with the dice, cards, and markers that were sent home in the fall. If families are interested in computer-based programs, there are a few popular programs listed below. Some are free, some are free to access through the Calgary Public Library, and some have a monthly fee or annual subscription. Please do note, we cannot endorse any of these programs, but do know they are popular with many families. There is nothing more valuable than a parent reading with a child or a parent playing a math game with a child. We do understand though, families are busy and may not have the time on a daily basis to sit down with their child. Please check these opportunities out if you are still looking for an on-line option for your child. Epic Books – Free to get one book per day or unlimited books for approximately $10.00/ month Tumble Books – Free with your Calgary Public Library Card Calgary Public Library – Free access to books and many resources XtraMath – Procedural Fluency Practice (Free) DuoLingo - English and French practice (Free) There are many languages available on this program Brain Pop and Brain Pop Jr (Free with your Calgary Public Library Card) or with a monthly fee on line Mathletics - Fee based app available for all families IXL – Learning Website and App. Math and English (Fee Based) Dream Box – Literacy and math (Fee based) http://www.childrenslibrary.org/ - International Children's Digital Library (free) https://www.starfall.com/h/ - Starfall – learn to read website (K-2) (free) https://www.abcya.com/ Gr k-6+ Literacy and more (Free and Fee based) Students and parents can access e-books and audiobooks at the Calgary Public Library. Here is the information to access online books and resources: Accessing eBooks through the Calgary Public Library https://calgary.overdrive.com/library/kids/ · Students – CBE gmail address (educbe.ca) · Student PIN – 1234567 “How to" log in video https://youtu.be/d5Rc5mfCK8g |
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| | | Chris Akkerman Weekly Message | Dates to Remember Dec 19 – FUN LUNCH!! Dec December 19 – 22 Winter festivities and celebrations all week. All classes will be sharing the plan, the clothing guidelines (Formal/ Informal/ School Spirit) and daily updates as the plans are different for divisions and grades. Please check your child's agenda and Google Classroom for the most current update. Dec 22- Last day of classes in 2022 January 9 Classes resume January 26 6:30 PM Learning Commons - School Council Meeting All welcome January 30 Report Cards are available to all families via your mycbe account Dear CAS Families, On Friday the gym and halls of the school were filled with the beautiful voices of our children. There is nothing more wonderful than children's voices. Students were so excited to see their parents in the audience and to preform for them. The paparazzi was out in full force. I am quite certain our students feel famous with all of the videos and cameras capturing every moment. The performances were outstanding. I am not certain what I loved more, the action song that had parents frantically following along to, the amazing flashlights in the dark, the beautiful song done with scarves, or making soup to song...memories to cherish forever! Thank you Ms. Costinak and all of the amazing educators at CAS for all of your hard work putting this great musical celebration of learning together. We promise, this will not be the last musical celebration of learning in the year. Stay tunned for more information in the new year! Proud principal of Chris Akkerman School, Dr. Bettesworth
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(Hidden) Deb Warmington, Principal
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