Astral Drive Elementary http://astral.ednet.ns.ca Safe Arrival Line: 462-8500 extension 1 SAVE THE DATE STAR monthly focus: I will value others’ contributions, ideas and activities Christmas Concerts Congratulations to the students, staff and everyone who worked on this year’s concert, "Frosty Adventure at Astral". Jan 5 Jan 10 First day of Classes after Break We Act bottle drive Jan 13 Jan 20 Jan 28 Jan 29 Jan 29 PTO meeting, 6:300pm, Library Dr. Daniel Chorney Presentation: Helping Children with Anxiety SAC meeting, 5:30pm, Library Stadacona Band Presentation: all students Family Fantastic Fitness Food Bank Thursday Concrete Roots Dance group Jan 30 Jan 30 Feb 2 Feb. 12 STARS Assembly Multicultural Day Primary Registration begins French Immersion Information Night Jan 26 Jan 27 TRAFFIC SAFETY from HRSB There have been a number of car accidents involving pedestrians in the HRM in the last week, including some involving school-aged children. With winter approaching, we would ask that you take the time to discuss with your son or daughter the importance of personal safety when walking or playing outside. The Halifax Regional Police have some great traffic safety tips on their website at: http://www.halifax.ca/Police/Programs/traf ficsafety.html . A huge thank you goes to Mrs. Bergeron, Ms. Neufeld, Mme. Joubert and Mr. Casey for making the concerts an event to remember to students, parents/guardians, family and friends. This was a new venue for us; however all the feedback was positive. We heard that you liked having just two programs and that you could hear and see all the children. If all goes well, I think we will try to secure the venue for future years. Special recognition goes to Mrs. Steele and her Sound Crew for producing the sound. The entire event was a resounding success! Winter and Playground Safety Due to weather conditions, areas around our playground may become slippery, especially the upper field which belongs to HRM. We ask parents to remind students to stay off the ice and use the sidewalks to access school property. We also have a number of students who are coming to school early; and are staying after school to slide on the hill or wait for older friends and siblings. For the safety of our students, please encourage your child to go directly home after school and not arrive too early. Please to be reminded that an extra change of clothes each day would help your child/ren be more comfortable at school. And of course please make sure they have adequate hats, mittens, scarves and snow pants. Safe Arrival Our Safe Arrival Program is essential for student safety; please remember to inform the school if your child is sick or away. If you know your children will be away, please send an e-mail to the school as well as the teacher. This will ensure that you will not receive a call home if your child is not marked as excused absent from school. Registration 2015-2016 February is registration month for new primaries. This year’s primary students must be five on or before December 31, 2015. When you come to the school to register please bring the child’s birth certificate and proof of address. Please pass this information on to any neighbors in your area that may have a child starting school in September. It is very important that we have all registrations completed in February as these numbers determine staffing for the next school year. For those parents considering the French Immersion program there will be a meeting at the school on February 12th at 6:30 pm in the library. Out of area French Immersion registration begins on April 1, 2015. Junior High Registration Forms for the school year 2015-2016 will be sent out to our grade six students in February. Please fill in all information, including the back of the form and return to Astral Drive Elementary. More information will be included in February’s newsletter. Information for grade six parents: When a student registers for Late French Immersion (starting in Grade Seven) and cannot be accommodated at the area school, placement will be determined by the Supervisor of Staffing and Resources in consultation with school principals and area staff. Scent and Nut Aware Please remember, Astral Drive Elementary is a scent and nut aware school. For the safety of our students and staff, please do not send foods containing nuts, or wear scented products at school. Some of our students and staff members have life threatening allergies to nuts. Thank-you for your care and diligence when sending in snacks and lunches. Please refrain from wearing scents or using scented laundry products while at the school. We appreciate your support in keeping our school safe and our students and staff healthy. PARENT VISITS There will be days when due to weather conditions students will be permitted to come in to school at 8:10am. If you bring your child to school, please leave them at the door. It is very confusing and crowded to have adults in the building along with the students especially since the breakfast program will also be in progress right inside the doors. Your children will be cared for once they enter the building. Also, if you come to school during lunch to drop something off for your child, please come to the office and we will have your child paged. It is never okay for parents to enter the building and go directly to the classrooms. PTO News The PTO has decided to send out their own special update this month. Please be on the lookout for it. We want to take this moment to thank the PTO under the leadership of Tara Cross, Tim Cleary, Michelle Boniface, Shelley Phinney and Jeff Trafford for their continued support. It is amazing the number of hours these volunteers and their families devote to every event that occurs at the school. Thank you to them and the team of volunteers who back them up. It truly is a shared responsibility. RESOURCES NEEDED 2015: It’s out with the old and in with the new! January is the most popular month of the year for organizing our homes and purging items that our children have outgrown or are no longer used. The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development is promoting moving to a more based model for learning in the primary-grade 1 classrooms. With that in mind we would like to ask that if you have any items in your home that you are purging, please check with your children’s teachers to see if they could use them before sending them somewhere else. Below is list of a few items they are looking for: Sparks Fly is an initiative to put silent exercise bikes in classrooms to be used by students during class time to assist in self regulation (http://www.selfregulation.ca/sparks-fly/). Students who are having difficulty due to attention problems and anxiety have the opportunity to use these bikes and refocus their attention and relieve their anxiety without ever leaving their learning environment. The benefits of using these bikes in the schools are numerous and encourage positive stress release by children and fitness as part of a healthy lifestyle. At ADES we have had 2 bikes in our school for the past month or so. Restless students in need of a break ride the bikes with positive results. We look forward to having even more of them to meet the needs of our large population. PHYSICAL EDUCATION UPDATE *blocks *play food *puzzles *lego *dress up clothes *board games *dolls *automobiles *train table, train set *big blocks *cash register, play money *play dough *puppets *play tent *toy animals *tinker toys *action figures *toy storage *toy phones *tool box and tools *water table *play kitchen *cars *sand table REVOLUTION FITNESS Revolution Fitness hosted a 23 day Tour de France cycling challenge to raise money for the Sparks Fly initiative. We recorded participant’s distance in km for the duration of the event and a grand prize of a bike donated by The Bike Pedaler was awarded to the participant who completed the most km for the duration of the event. Participants raised over $5000 in pledges and personal donations that was in turn donated to the HRSB for the purchase of SparksFly brain bikes for local schools. During the month of January, we will be working on outcomes related to educational gymnastics (balance, strength, rolling, etc.) Later in the spring, the grade 4-6 classes will be creating and presenting a dance video in PE class. This unit is very popular with most students. One challenge we face when working on this project is finding creative ways for students to hear the music while they are practicing. We share 3 music speakers and players among the groups. If you would like to donate an old iPod or speakers (including computer speakers with a headphone jack) that are not being used, they would help each group have more time to prepare for the presentations. The iPods only need to hold a playlist of less than 30 songs. Mrs. Steele is collecting receipts from Boston Pizza with the goal of eventually purchasing a new crash mat for the school. Boston pizza will donate a certain percentage of all receipts passed in to our school. Family Fitness Night, Wednesday, January 28th Be on the lookout for a Family Fitness Night invitation later this month. Bring the whole family for a special evening of fun and fitness. Start the New Year off on the right foot! GUIDANCE SUPPORT Child Friendly Military Presentations The Military Family Resource Center is going to be offering more presentations at the school to help support students who have family members serving in the Military. We are hoping to have 4-5 thirty minute presentations throughout the school year during school time. *Please note the main goal of these talks is to let military children know they are special and we appreciate them. Families do not have to be experiencing deployment, reunion etc., at the current time in order to enjoy these presentations. If you think your child could benefit from this please contact the guidance counsellor Mrs. Pope via email: [email protected] or phone: 902 462-8500 ext 6021003 to sign up. Please state your child’s full name and class teacher. Here is some feedback from the first session: “Thank you so much for beginning this program. My boys, Aiden and Noah were thrilled to take part especially with their father currently deployed. They were so excited after school; it was wonderful to see them so happy and proud to be military children.” Many thanks, Melissa Walsh “There are unique stressors growing up in a military family and I wanted to take a moment to sincerely thank you for recognizing the need to discuss some of these challenges with our children and recognizing the affect it will have (and has had) on their lives. Too often the contribution and sacrifices our kids make is forgotten; it isn’t easy changing schools often and being the new kid on the block nor is it easy on them to have a parent away on deployment then return to a period of reintegration within the home. Many of our kids are learning to cope with an injured parent or losing a parent in combat – the impact that has on their lives is profound. By taking the time to give our children an opportunity at school to meet other military kids, share experiences and have open conversations about military life gives them practical and creative tools to deal whatever they are feeling. While our children don’t wear a military uniform, they are serving their country too. This is exactly what they need. Thank you. “ Warm regards, Vanessa Roman Helping Children with Anxiety: Presentation for Parents Please join us in welcoming presenter Dr. Daniel Chorney, Chorney a leader in clinical psychology and children’s mental health Parents of elementary and junior high aged children are invited to hear Dr. Chorney speak on this topic. Dr. Chorney has a particular interest in helping people identify and overcome anxiety in children and adolescents. Come hear his presentation to learn about anxiety and some practical parenting strategies to help your child. The presentation will be: 6:30-7:30 PM Tuesday, January 20th, 2015 At Astral Drive Elementary School, 236 Astral Drive, Dartmouth, N.S. Coffee and snacks will be provided beginning at 6:15 pm. For more information please contact the school counsellor Krista Pope at (902) 462-8500 ext 6021003 [email protected]
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