Posted: February 28, 2016

It’s Leap Day Monday! Jump for Joy!

 Information

• Spread the Word to End the Word – Special Olympics have a campaign to increase awareness of the negative impact of the R-Word used in casual speech, and to eliminate it altogether. Check their website and make the pledge!
• It is Cupcake Day on Monday, in support of the SPCA. Mrs. Swerdan and a group of students and parents will be selling cupcakes in support of the SPCA on Monday. Bring your loonies and toonies, and help provide a voice for those who can’t speak for themselves.
• Buckets and Band – Some of our classes are doing bucket drumming, and the band have been working really hard on a couple of pieces that are sounding really good. On March 10, between recess and lunch, we’ll be having a sharing assembly for them to show other students (and interested adults) what they’ve got going on! We expect to start around 10:50.
• Jump Rope for Heart fundraising envelopes should be returned to the school by Wednesday morning, please. We will have an assembly recognizing top fundraisers sometime shortly after we get the results in April. Congratulations to all the students who raised money for the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
• Grade 7 students planning on applying to the accelerated math program at WGSS are invited to attend some extra instruction at lunch on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Students in this
  program essentially skip Math 8, so strong basic skills are a must. These sessions will introduce and reinforce approaches to problem solving, algebra, and operations with integers and fractions.
• There will be a Video Game Design camp at WGSS this Spring Break, for kids 12 and up.
• Parent Teacher Interviews are coming next week. I will send appointment information out in a separate email by Tuesday.
• Purple Pirate Enterntainment is coming to present to students in grades K-6 Wednesday. Thanks to the PAC for supporting this initiative, and thanks to all of you who support the PAC fundraising efforts. I wonder how many of us can wear purple to match the performer…

De la PAC!

• Wednesday is hot lunch. Subway is in the menu. Thank you to all the room parents who help hand out food for the kids.
• Cobs, Cobs, Cobs! Mention West Langley elementary next time you’re picking up your fresh baked goods and help support our school. 

Something to think about…

• Back in November, I sent out a TED Talk on the positive side of stress. Here’s an article about how we can harness that positive side to help students.
• Here’s a thing: Short Answers to Hard Questions on Climate Change. I find articles like this provide interesting places to start conversations with some of our older kids, so that they can stretch their thinking, and deal with questions that have increasingly complex and sometimes vague answers. These answers are simple on purpose, and the give thinkers a chance to be critical of that simplicity.
• So I read this one and see a bit of myself. Do I worry more about my daughter because she has special needs or because she’s a girl? Do I actually worry more? S? Am I teaching fear, even unintentionally? Why Do We Teach Girls it’s Cute to be Scared?
• If you or someone you know is the proud owner of a teenager, you know that they can demonstrate some challenging behaviours. (and sometimes they start to demonstrate them well before there’s a -teen on their age). Perhaps there’s a silver lining….

Quote of the Week

Calendar

Monday

• SPCA Cupcake Day
• Soapstone Carving – Division 4
• Math Accelerated class at lunch (grade 7)

Tuesday

• Math Accelerated class at lunch (grade 7)

Wednesday

• Hot Lunch Day
• Math Accelerated class at lunch (grade 7)
• Jump Rope for Heart fundraising envelopes & donations due.
• Purple Pirate Entertainment – 9:00 for grades K-6. Let’s wear purple ourselves!
• WGSS Counsellor Visit – 9:00 for grade 7
• WGSS Accelerated Math entrance test 3:00

Thursday

• Fire Drill

Friday

• Report Cards Issued

Beyond

• March 7 & 8 – Lacrosse in the gym – 1 session per class
• March 10 – Bucket Drummers & Band sharing assembly 10:50
• March 9&10 – Parent Teacher Interviews – details to come.
• March 11 – last day before Spring Break!
• Wednesday, March 30 is the first day of classes after the break.