Mustang Memo - April 17, 2025
Hey Mustang parents and guardians!
We want to celebrate you! You are all invited to our Volunteer Appreciation Event on Thursday, April 24, 2025 starting at 11 a.m. There will be light refreshments and a short presentation by our kindergarten students.
We value your support and help in making our school such a great place!
We hope that everyone enjoys some family time over the Easter long weekend.
Helene Hewitt & Jay Robertson
Principal & Assistant Principal
You belong here!
Table of Contents
Week At a Glance
Action
- Earth Day Assembly
- Shoe Drive
Opportunity
- School Supply Ordering is Now Open
- Time to Pitch-In
Information
- Counsellor's Corner
- Math-a-thon Adds Up!
- A Big Thank You to Volunteers
- Parents Make the Difference
WEEK AT A GLANCE
| Monday April 21 |
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| Tuesday April 22 |
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| Wednesday April 23 |
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| Thursday April 24 |
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| Friday April 25 |
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ACTION
Earth Day Assembly
Do you love to celebrate our beautiful planet? So do our Grade 4 students who will be leading our Earth Day Assembly on April 22 at 2:15 p.m. in our gym.
They will dazzle us with their public speaking skills and teach us about how to take care of the planet.
After the assembly, classes are invited to join a pitch-in community clean up event where they will pick up garbage from around our playground using garbage bags and gloves. Parents are welcome to join us for the assembly and the clean up that follows!
Shoe Drive - Soles4Souls
Our school will be participating in the Soles for Souls shoe drive sponsored by Strathcona County. How does it work? According to the County website:
Shoes are a difficult to recycle and are most often sent to the landfill—until now! Strathcona County works with Soles4Souls to collect old shoes and keep them out of the landfill. Soles4Souls distributes donated shoes to those who need them most. If the shoes cannot be reused, they are sent for refurbishing by small businesses in developing economies.
Want to learn more? Check out this video:
OPPORTUNITY
School Supply Ordering is Now Open
Our next year school supply ordering is now open, and it is a great fundraiser. Supplies can be shipped home, or delivered to the school the third week of June for pick up. You can order here: https://www.write-on.ca/shop/
FOR ONLINE ORDERS:
• Go to www.write-on.ca
• Click on “PARENTS – Order Here”
• School Name: Davidson Creek Elementary School - SHERWOOD PARK
• Choose your grade and place your order.
• Complete your order by clicking ‘PLACE ORDER’
• You will receive an automatic email confirmation to confirm your order has been received
• We accept VISA, MC, AMEX, Visa Debit and Interac On-line.
Time to Pitch In
April 21-May 4 is Pitch-In week for Strathcona County! Our DCE students will be heading out to clean our school grounds with their teachers to help keep our school and its surrounding area looking its best! To learn more about what you and your family can do to "pitch-in" the week of April 21, which includes Earth Day on April 22, visit strathcona.ca/PitchIn.
INFORMATION
Counsellor's Corner
Confident Kids – Unparented
For children currently in Grades 1 & 2- May 1 & 8
Thursday, May 1, 2025, 5:30 – 6:30pm - For children to develop confidence and strong social-emotional skills, they need opportunities to experience peer interactions in a safe and encouraging environment. This interactive program will create space for your young person to connect with others and learn new skills in a fun way!
**Priority given to those who have not previously attended Confident Kids**
Sign up here: Confident Kids – Strathcona County
Focused Attention Practices
“Focused practices are created to prime and prepare our brains and bodies to hold a state of relaxed alertness. Focused Attention Practices calm and/ or energize the nervous system. They incorporate breath, movement, rhythm, visualization, music, and imagination which is sometimes challenging when we feel locked in a survival brain and body state. Many of these practices energize and help all of us to focus and pay attention to the present moment. Other practices calm the brain and body when we are feeling rough and dysregulated. These FoAP are as much for adults as they are for children and youth.”- Dr. Lori Desautels
We are exploring many different focused attention practices in our classrooms this year- here are some you can explore together at home!
- Nostril Breathing- C- With your thumb, close your left nostril and breathe in through your right for four seconds. Hold for four seconds and place your first finger on your right nostril and breathe out for 6 seconds. Now breathe in for four counts in your left nostril, hold for four and then breathe out for six counts in your right nostril. Repeat alternating nostrils three times and notice the sensations in your brain and body. (Closing our eyes is always an option)
- So What– C- When we are feeling mildly irritated or anxious, this FoAP can help calm us and reframe the experience that is bothersome. As we breathe in, we say (in our heads) “so” and as we breathe out for a longer exhale, we say to ourselves, “what.” We do this a few times, imagining if this worry or frustration will matter a week from now, a month from now, or a year from now. This is a great one to do with smaller worries or irritations. (Closing our eyes is always an option.)
- Golden Cord– C- In this FoAP, we imagine a golden cord with a glittering ball attached. This cord connects our chest to our bellies. As we take a deep breath in, we see the glittering ball move up along the golden cord into our chests and as we exhale, we see the glittering ball move back down the cord into our bellies. You can imagine this movement as fast or slow as you would like. Try this for one minute as you focus on your breath and the vision of the glittering movement.
- Lifeline Tracing– C- As we breathe deeply, we trace the lifelines on our right hand with our left finger matching our breath to the movements. After 30 seconds, we switch hands, and with deep inhales and exhales, we trace the other lifelines on our hands matching the movement to our breath.
For more focused attention practice ideas click here!
Madison Bashaw and Kelley Mitchell
DCE Counselling Team
Math-a-thon Adds Up!
Thank you to all of our families who participated in our Math-a-thon before the break. Not only did our students practice their basic math skills, but they also helped to raise money to support our school!
We raised $13,470 all while practicing our math! Way to go, Mustangs!
We will use those funds to support initiatives at the school such as money to support student extra-curricular clubs, tasty treat days like Pancake Day and fun family events like the Summer Sizzler!
Congratulations to Mrs. Drechsel's and Mrs. Shopland's classes who won the class prize for the most money raised! Another congratulations goes to Mr. Miller's class and Mrs. Breen's class for having the biggest improvement in their math results across the two weeks! We are proud of everyone! All the winning classes won some tasty treats like snow cones and candy bags for their hard work.
Finally, thank you to our school council and fundraising groups for helping us to organize, collect and count all of the donations! It takes a village!
Parents make the difference
Here is this week's article with helpful tips for families:
Focus on four areas as you help your child develop character
Children are born with unique personalities. Their character; however, is shaped by their experiences and the values they learn.
To guide your child’s character development, focus on teaching:
- Model compromise and negotiation by listening to the opinions of others. Encourage your child to do the same.
- Teach your child to imagine how others might feel and to treat them with kindness. Make caring for others a priority in your family.
- Self-control. Explain that while people can’t control others’ actions, they can control their own behavior. Encourage your child to always think before acting.
- Let your child know that responsibilities are like promises. They are things that must be done—especially when others are counting on your child.
Reprinted with permission from the April 2025 issue of Parents make the difference!® (Elementary School Edition) newsletter. Copyright © 2025 The Parent Institute®, a division of PaperClip Media, Inc.