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 ALBION ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Telephone: 604-463-4848 Fax: 604-463-4689
Principal: Mrs. L. Lawrance Vice-Principal: Mrs. J. Beveridge
Website: http://albion.sd42.ca Newsletter #8
April 28, 2015
Principal’s Message
It is hard to believe that we only have two months left in the school year. This is an extremely
busy time as we tend to ‘fit in’ so many events. It is incredible to note the number of extra
programs that are offered to our students at Albion Elementary. Unless you are immersed in
the day-to-day operations of the school, it is difficult to understand the amount of extra activity
that takes place concurrent with and outside of the regular classroom curriculum.
For social responsibility during the month of May we are focusing on being heroic. An
important aspect of schooling is helping students become responsible adults. It is essential for
students to learn the importance of being reliable, dependable, and self-assured citizens at
home, in school, and in the community.
At Albion, we have a hard working, dedicated staff and parent group who not only work in
classrooms to support student learning, but also put a lot of effort into extra curricular activities
for our students. Our students are very fortunate to be in a vibrant and active learning
environment and we thank each and every one of you who give that ‘little extra’ to make Albion
an exciting place to learn!
Mrs. L. Lawrance, Principal Upcoming Events
Fri., May 1
Mon., May 4
Tues., May 5
Wed., May 6
Thurs., May 7
Sun., May 10
Mon., May 11
Tues., May 12
Wed., May 13
Creative Pack School Supplies Order Forms due to the Office
12:00 noon PAC Hot Lunch (Subway)
1:00 pm Author Visit – Annette LeBox (Gym)
2:30 pm Annette LeBox Book Signing (Library)
8:45 am Assembly (Monthly Theme: Be Heroic!)
Grade 5/6 Fire Safety Presentations for Div. 6, 7, 8/9
Grade 5/6 Fire Safety Presentations for Div. 3, 4, 5
3:00 – 4:00 pm PALS
RCMP – DARE Workshops for Grade 5s – morning
Creative Kaos Workshops for Div. 18, 19, 20
Happy Mother’s Day!
RCMP – DARE Workshops for Grade 5s – morning
7:00 pm PAC Meeting (Library)
Fruit & Vegetable Delivery – tomatoes
Class & Panorama Photos
Wed., May 13
Thurs., May 14
Mon., May 18
Tues., May 19
Thurs., May 21
Fri., May 22
Mon., May 25
Tues., May 26
Wed., May 27
Fri., May 29
SD42 Grade 4 & 5 Public Speaking Forum
SD42 Grade 6 & 7 Public Speaking Forum
Victoria Day Holiday – No School
Non-Instructional Day – No School for Students
6:00 – 9:00 pm Shopping Night PAC Fundraiser (Gym)
9:15 – 11:30 am French Café, Plays, and Art Gallery
9:00 am School-wide Cultural Performance – Masabo
DSAC – COR Project/Conference for Gr. 6/7 Leadership Students
RCMP – DARE Workshops for Grade 5s – morning
Aboriginal Education Workshops for Div. 15 & 16 – morning
Grade 7 Full Day High School Visit
1:00 pm New Kindergarten Orientation (Gym)
Upcoming Field Trips
Tues., May 5
Wed., May 6
Thurs., May 7
Fri., May 8
Tues., May 12
Wed., May 13
Thurs., May 14
Fri., May 15
Thurs., May 21
10:00 – 11:00 am Div. 5 & 7 Swimming at the Leisure Centre
1:00 – 2:00 pm Division 4 Swimming at the Leisure Centre
Division 19 to Quantum Gymnastics – afternoon
Division 20 to Quantum Gymnastics – afternoon
Division 8 on a field trip to The ACT – afternoon
Division 18 to Quantum Gymnastics – afternoon
10:00 – 11:00 am Div. 5 & 7 Swimming at the Leisure Centre
Division 19 to Quantum Gymnastics – afternoon
10:00 – 11:00 am Div. 4 & 6 Swimming at the Leisure Centre
Division 20 to Quantum Gymnastics – afternoon
Division 18 to Quantum Gymnastics – afternoon
Div. 1, 2, 3 to watch a drama performance at SRT
Spring Cross Country
Many thanks and congratulations go to our students, staff, and parents
who worked so hard to get ready for this year’s District Spring Cross
Country events. We were very proud of the effort our students
demonstrated (almost 150 of them plus 15 rabbit helpers!), and want to
congratulate them for both their great running and their great behaviour as
they represented Albion at these events. To our many parents and staff
volunteers – we could not do these events without your help – thanks so
much!
Albion is on Twitter!
For quick reminders and updates, follow us on Twitter @AlbionSD42. Albion Public Speaking Forum
Congratulations to all of our Intermediate students who participated in our school's public
speaking presentations. The following students represented their class at our recent School
Public Speaking Forum:
Grade 4
Grade 5
Name
Speech
Name
Speech
Michael Barker
Elizabeth Bruce
Coal Mining Museum
Meet Camp McLean
Emily Buzza
Jack Hayhoe
Chloe Goyette
Evan JohnstonBetzler
Julia Nagy
Elijah Olson
Will Stafford
Deforestation
The Mariana Trench
Maya Saffari
Kelty Sheridan
The Best Pet
Are Electric Cars
Green?
Hockey
Idioms
Lyme Disease
Adoption
Lego
Ryann Sheridan
Cameron Wood
Mars 100
Colour Blindness
Grade 6
Grade 7
Name
Speech
Name
Speech
Olivia Bastaja
Blood Donation
Should be Mandatory
Meghan Jones
Ben Grant
Emily Quinn
Catalina-Mae Shupe
Fiona Still
USA Conspiracies
Child Anxiety
Giant Squid
Childhood
Immunizations
Aiden McDonald
Jaden Ogilvie
Reed Taylor
Ella Ulrich
Does Hunting Have a
Place in Modern
Society?
Evolution
Like a Girl
Anxiety
Effects of Disney
Princesses
Canada Should Bring
Back the Death
Penalty
Mathew White
From these speakers, we selected four students to represent Albion at the District Public
Speaking Forum. These speakers participate, along with representatives from every other
elementary school, in a speaking showcase. The four students chosen to participate in the
District Public Speaking Forum were:
Gr. 7
Meghan Jones
Does Hunting Have a Place in Modern Society?
Gr. 6
Fiona Still
Childhood Immunizations
Gr. 5
Kelty Sheridan
Idioms
Gr. 4
Will Stafford
Lego
The level of speeches at our school speaking events was of a very high caliber, and our
students should be commended for their strong performance at each event. Very well done!
Pre-Ordered & Pre-Packaged School Supplies
Last week your son/daughter was given a recommended school supply list for next year.
These supplies are very important as the teachers plan their instruction based on each student
possessing these supplies.
There are two parts:
Part A - contains items that are REQUIRED and usually need
replenishing each year.
Part B - contains items that are REQUIRED but often are in
good enough condition to use again the following year.
Participation in this program is completely optional. You may
choose to use this list to purchase your own supplies. If you
are interested in purchasing a supply kit through Albion, the
orders must be returned no later than May 1st, 2015.
Cheques are payable to Creative Packs. The children will
receive their supplies in June. School supplies are to be taken home for the summer, labeled,
and brought back to school in September.
Scholastic Book Orders
Please remember to make your cheques payable to Albion School
(not Scholastic Books as indicated on their order form). Albion
writes one cheque to cover the whole order. Also, if you wish to
purchase books as a gift, simply write "gift" on the order form and
we will call you when it arrives. The May Scholastic Order is due
on April 30th.
School Assemblies
Each month our school has an assembly usually on the first Monday at 8:45 am. The purpose
of these assemblies is to build school pride, celebrate student successes, and ensure we
maintain clear communication and expectations with the students. Parents are always
welcome to join us for assemblies in the gym. Our next school assembly is on Monday,
May 4th at 8:45 a.m. in the gym. This month’s theme is Be Heroic! Check your child’s
Planner for related information and activities.
P.A.L.S.
P.A.L.S. stands for Parents as Literacy Supporters. Our last P.A.L.S. session is on
Wednesday, May 6th from 3:00 – 4:00 pm. If you are the parent of a
Kindergarten or preschool aged child (3—4 years of age), please plan to
attend this event with your child. These sessions offer fun, interactive
experiences to help you with ways to promote literacy and numeracy
skill development at home. You can register by calling the school office at 604-463-4848.
Albion Parent Advisory Council (PAC)
Our next PAC Meeting will be held on Monday, May 11th at 7:00 pm in the school library.
Haney Bottle Depot Fundraiser: Albion Elementary School has an account at Haney Bottle
Depot (#2-22935 Lougheed Hwy). Tell them the school’s account number (572) and bring in
your receipt to the office.
The Albion PAC is on Facebook! Simply visit our group page (Albion Elementary PAC) and
ask to join our group. We will keep you up-to-date on the latest PAC events.
Shopping Night PAC Fundraiser – May 21st
The PAC’s SHOPPING NIGHT will take place at the school on
Thursday, May 21st from 6:00 – 9:00 pm. We already have over
30 vendors, however there are a few tables still available for rent
at $20 each. Please contact Christy Lyle at [email protected]
if you are interested in booking a table. There will be door prizes
and a 50/50 draw – check out the details at
https://www.facebook.com/events/1715966795297111/. We are
currently looking for anyone that might be able to help the school
by donating (or knowing someone who could) signage for this
event. Please let us know if you could provide us with a banner
or the name of a printing company that would be interested in
helping us to promote this event.
Café Albion – May 22nd
You are invited to Café Albion on Friday, May 22. The students in
Divisions 1 - 10 are preparing a French play to be performed in their
classrooms during the morning of Café Albion. After watching a play, all
parents, grandparents or other family members are invited to attend the
café in the gym, where the Grade 6 and 7 students will be serving you
"en francais". The cost will be $4. Preschoolers are welcome to attend
and there is no charge for them. Play schedules will be announced by
the end of April. Please save the date. More information to follow on
the portal about purchasing tickets.
Kindergarten Orientation
This year, Albion has been assigned approximately 55 new Kindergarten students! It should be
another exciting year for our Kindergarten program. Kindergarten Orientation Session is
scheduled for Friday, May 29th at 1:00 pm. This is an important information session for new
Kindergarten parents, so please plan to attend if at all possible.
Intermediate Track & Field
As done in previous years, the Intermediate teachers have planned a
Track and Field unit for all Grade 4-7 students. The program will take
place during scheduled times during the month of May. Some additional
practice times will be scheduled during May. The structure and timing of
this program will allow staff to identify appropriate students for
participation in the District Track Meet in June. Extra weekly practices will be posted in
classrooms, the Track & Field board, the front information board, and the Parent Portal.
Aboriginal Education
For the most recent edition of the ‘Talking Stick’ newsletter, from the
Aboriginal Education Department, please check on-line at:
http://schools.sd42.ca/abed/newsletters
Moving?
If you know you will not be attending Albion Elementary next year, we would
appreciate it if you let us know. During the next couple of months, we will
be working very hard to accommodate all of the requests to transfer to
Albion, and it is very helpful to our planning if we know who will or will not be
attending next year. Thanks for your help with this request.
Guidelines for Transferring Schools
These guidelines apply to students who want to:
• Transfer to Albion from another school in Maple Ridge / Pitt Meadows
• Transfer out of Albion to another school in Maple Ridge / Pitt Meadows
Parents need to go to their current school to request a student transfer form.
The current school will keep this form. There will be a series of three
meetings to decide on transfer requests, as follows:
• Thursday, April 16th
• Thursday, June 18th
• Thursday, August 27th
Once decisions have been made at these meetings, parents will be phoned to let them know.
Families who move into a school catchment need to go to that school to register. If they are
hoping to attend a different school, they can indicate this on their registration form.
In general, acceptance criteria for prioritizing new registrations are:
• Students who live in catchment
• Students who live out of catchment with siblings already in the school
• Out of catchment without siblings
• Out of District with siblings
• Out of District without siblings
At Albion, we generally can only take students who live in our catchment. Sometimes, we
can take students who live out of catchment, but who already have siblings in our school.
Given how full we are, we are not accepting students from out of catchment if they do not have
siblings in our school.
As always, if you have questions, please give us a call!
School Safety Reminders
For safety reasons, roller blading, skate boarding and use of scooters is not
permitted on school property during school days (8:00 am to 3:00 pm). Bicycles
must also be walked on school property during the busy 8:00 am to 3:00 pm
period. Students who choose to ride their bike to school are strongly advised to
bring a lock and properly secure their bike to the rack.
Warmer Weather Attire and Safe Shoes
As the warmer weather becomes more the norm (hopefully), our thoughts are starting to turn to
Spring and Summer clothing. Please remember our dress code, in which we ask students to
wear appropriate clothing to school. Clothing that is too revealing does not need to be worn to
school, and teachers may ask students to “cover up” in some situations.
As well, please take some care with the type
of footwear your children bring to school.
Although light shoes and sandals are
appropriate for classroom wear, they are not
safe to wear outside if your child plans to
run or climb on the playground. These types
of footwear are not designed to protect students’ feet during activities involving quick
movement, and foot or ankle injuries may result. As a safety precaution, please ask your
child to bring outside runners to school for P.E. and for recess/lunch activities. For safety
reasons, we do reserve the right to ask your child to not participate in outdoor activities if
he/she is not wearing appropriate footwear. Our school dress code motto is, “Not too short,
not too tight, something nice that fits just right.”
Ministry of Education Satisfaction Survey Extension
MESSAGE TO PARENTS OF GRADE 4 AND 7 STUDENTS
If you have a student in grade 4 or 7, he/she brought home a
letter outlining this year’s School Satisfaction Survey for
parents. This year, we must complete all surveys online, so
we would ask you to please take 15 minutes of your time to fill
this out. The letter we sent home included a password to sign
on with, as well as directions to help you. If, at any time, you have questions please do not
hesitate to call us. As well, we are more than willing to let you complete your Satisfaction
Survey using one of our school computers. The more parents who complete these surveys,
the higher quality of feedback we will receive. Your input is appreciated! The deadline for
completing the annual Satisfaction Survey has been extended until May 15, 2015! As well as
completing this survey, please feel free to come and see us anytime with questions or
feedback.
Albion’s Reading Link Team – Silver Medal Winners
The Albion Bouncy Bookworms placed second in the Fraser Valley Reading Link Finals on
April 23rd in Fort Langley! They now move on to the Grand Challenge on May 6th in Langley.
They will compete against teams from Coquitlam, North Vancouver, Port Moody, and Surrey.
This year 104 teams from 96 Fraser Valley schools participated in the Fraser Valley Reading
Link Finals and the Albion Bouncy Bookworms placed second!
Way to go, Jack, Emilie, Diego, Harley, Canyon, and Cathy! We are so proud of you!
Lost and Found
The Lost and Found was cleared out prior to Spring Break and is
already full again. All items have been displayed on tables in the front
entrance for the last two weeks. Please check again for any of your
child's missing items. We would like to donate all unclaimed items to
charity next week.
Class Composition for 2015/2016
It is that time of the year where you, as parents, are invited to submit information about your
child that will help us create classes for next year. We now have “Class Placement Information
Forms” on the school website that you can print and fill in. Please
complete one, and either email the file to me ([email protected])
or drop it off at the school office. Our deadline for input is Friday, May
22nd.
We ask that you do not approach teachers to discuss placements for
next year. We have found that some parents, in an attempt to “get a
specific teacher” or to keep a group of students together in a class, have
tried a bit too hard to influence the outcome, and this can put teachers in
a very uncomfortable position. The real purpose of allowing parents to
submit input is to help us with any types of learning-related information
that will help us place your child.
It is important to remember that our teachers, having spent a year with
your children, have a wealth of information about them. They are very
aware or your child’s learning style, strengths and challenges, social
relationships, etc. From this perspective, it is not really necessary for
parents to provide much in the way of input, and it is important for you to know that all children
are given equal importance when making placements. Parents who submit an input form do
not have any advantage over those who don’t.
The process of creating classes is very complex, and we need to consider multiple factors. We
do our best to weigh the importance of a variety of factors as we strive to make balanced
classes. We do consider learning styles, social dynamics, and instructional styles. In the end,
however, we do not have guarantees about who will be teaching at Albion next year; nor do we
know with certainty what our grade structure will be until we start in September.
A few things that are worth remembering as we head into this process:
1. Teachers have been asked to not make recommendations to parents about a teacher for
next year. If, for any reason, our teachers do suggest a particular teacher or classroom,
please do not take this as a guarantee of placement.
2. Combined, or split grades are a reality, and they can provide very effective learning
environments. If it is necessary to place your child in a combined class, then we will do so.
3. We like to place students with a friend; however, this cannot always be a priority, given all
of the needs we have to consider. Not being in the same class as a close friend is definitely
not the end of the world. In fact, it might provide opportunities to make new friendships.
If you have any questions about this year’s process, please do not hesitate to send me an
email ([email protected]), give me a call, or arrange a time to come and talk. In the
meantime, feel free to submit information in writing, using the form on the school website.
Healthy Habits for Kids
Healthy habits, including healthy eating, regular physical activity and being smoke free begin
at home and continue throughout life. At a young age, children learn to make decisions and
begin to make more choices of their own. They are developing habits and attitudes they may
carry with them for the rest of their lives. Peer pressure influences children and youth of all
ages and is particularly strong in the early teen years.
In the meantime, you, as a parent, play an important role in helping your children stay healthy.
You may want to:
Ø Encourage your children to eat three well-balanced meals by selecting food outlined in
Canada’s Food Guide, ample vegetables and fruit is particularly important
Ø Offer them water and lower-fat milk (1% or 2%) instead of pop and other sugary drinks
Ø Serve healthier options like fresh fruit, veggie sticks and low-fat yogurt for after school
snacks
Ø Encourage free outdoor play and limiting their screen time
Ø Make both your indoor and outdoor family activities free from secondhand smoke
Ø Encourage your kids to choose activities they love – any activity - dancing, basketball,
hockey, soccer, swimming or rollerblading
Ø Schedule active family outings like hiking, swimming or biking
Set a good example yourself by eating healthfully and being physically active on a regular
basis and by being smoke free.
Eat Well… Be Active… Live Tobacco Free!
SUMMER CAMP
CAMP
2015
For totally creative kids
Come for the creativity
Stay for the fun!!
Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows
Jabber-Wacky is an exciting camp for creative kids. We will
tackle small and large projects, some easy and some very hard.
If you like a challenge – you’ll love this camp!
Problems, Prototypes, Plots and Props
Are you a BUILDER?
Are you a WRITER?
Are you an ACTOR?
Are you an ARTIST?
Are you ready for some FUN?
Jabber-Wacky camps have been running now for 10 years. And
we’re back in Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows for another year!
Questions? Email [email protected] We are happy
to answer any queries or provide further information about the
camp.
www.odysseybc.ca
The camp is an initiative of CPSS (Creative Problem Solving Society) and is made
possible by grants. CPSS is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting
creative problem-solving in young minds..
July 27th – 31st
St. Patrick’s School
Bring a friend and have double the fun!
See who can build the tallest structure, the craziest car
or the wackiest invention
This camp is for children currently in Grades 3-7.
Drop off is 9:00 am and Pick-up is 3:00 pm.
Cost is $215 for the 5 day camp. Campers are to bring a snack and
packed lunch.
Confirmation and details will be sent via email before camp starts.
On-line registration. Go to www.odysseybc.ca and
follow the link to Summer Camp Registration form
Register early for
a FREE Camp T-shirt