Mustang Memo - February 5, 2025

Thank you to all of our parents who attended interviews this week! It was great to see families out with their children. We'd like to thank Mrs. Eng and her incredible parent volunteers who were hustling and bustling all night at the book fair. 

As we end this short week, teachers are preparing to attend the teachers' convention. What is teachers' convention, you ask? 

Every year, teachers go downtown to participate in the North Central Teachers' Convention. We meet up with colleagues from a few school divisions and attend a variety of professional learning sessions over the course of two days.

Sessions cover many topics from literacy and numeracy to ways we can engage students or support mental health. Our convention supports professionalism and enhances student learning by addressing teacher’s needs, supporting professional collaboration, advancing effective teaching practices and motivating reflective practice by exploring research and emerging educational issues.

While our students enjoy a long weekend, we get to be the students!

We'll see you next week!

Helene Hewitt & Jay Robertson

Principal & Assistant Principal

You belong here!

Table of Contents

Week At a Glance

Action

• Complete Your Returning Student Registration
• Kindergarten Registration is Now Open!

Opportunity 

• Numeracy Tips
• Pink Shirt Day Buttons

Information

• Counselor's Corner
• Did you know?
• Black History Month
• Parents Make the Difference

WEEK AT A GLANCE

ACTION

Complete your Returning Student Registration: February 10-24

Elk Island Public Schools’ (EIPS) returning student registration process is now open. All current students, except Grade 12, must complete the online Returning Student Registration Form to confirm their enrolment in a school and program for the upcoming 2025-26 school year. Additionally, students who want to attend a non-designated school or program need to make that request through the returning student registration process—acceptance is based on available space. All current EIPS students are required to complete the form by Feb. 24, 2025.

To complete your child’s returning student registration, refer to the Returning Student Registration Form email you received from Elk Island Public Schools through Permission Click on February 10. Families will receive one email for each student. No log in is required to complete the form.

For more information, contact the school directly.

 RELATED INFORMATION:
Returning Student Registration Process
Frequently Asked Questions
EIPS School Boundary Maps
Closed Boundaries 2025-26
Find my designated school
Applying to a non-designated school

Kindergarten Registration is Now Open!

Is your child turning five on or before Dec. 31, 2025? If so, it’s now time to register for kindergarten. To register, simply complete the online registration form at eips.ca/kindergarten.

To help families prepare, Elk Island Public Schools has put together an online EIPS Kindergarten Tool kit to make the transition as smooth as possible. The kit includes information on registration, important dates, programming options, what to expect, eligibility, how to find your designated school, transportation and more.

New for the 2025-26 school year, EIPS is piloting three full-day, every-day kindergarten programs. If interested, families can register their children for these programs until February 28. Learn more

Additional information regarding Davidson Creek Elementary’s kindergarten program is available by clicking here.

OPPORTUNITY

Pink Shirt Day Buttons

It's not too late to order a pink shirt day button designed by our very own DCE students! 

From Monday (Feb 3rd) to Friday (Feb 7th), buttons can be purchased for $3.50 each on through the fundraising section of our munchalunch website: (munchalunch.com)! 

Order one or both buttons for your kiddos to wear with their pink shirt on Pink Shirt Day to support kindness at our school and in our community! Any funds raised through sales support our kids at DCE!

Numeracy Tips

Mental math and estimation are essential skills that help students make quick, reasonable decision in everyday situations. From estimating time and costs to comparing sizes and quantitie4s, these skills build number sense and encourage flexible thinking. By developing these abilities, students gain confidence in solving problems and applying math in real-world contexts, laying a strong foundation for lifelong numeracy. For more information, check out these Elementary Numeracy Tips - Mental Math & Estimation.

INFORMATION

Counsellor's Corner

Conflict resolution is one of the biggest areas of skill building that we focus on as elementary school counsellors. Being able to successfully navigate conflicts with others is a skill that benefits children throughout their lives and, like all skills, conflict resolution takes time, patience and practice to hone. Here are some helpful tips from The Child Mind Institute for supporting your child to resolve conflicts with others.

Teaching Kids How to Deal With Conflict - Child Mind Institute

“Conflicts often feel enormous and immediate, which can make it hard to keep perspective on the situation. To find useful solutions, it’s important for kids to practice taking a mental step back. A few tips you can encourage kids to keep in mind include:

• Think beyond this one incident. If a close friend tells a secret you trusted them with, it’s natural to be upset. But does that really mean that the friendship is over? Encourage your child to consider the rest of their relationship with the person they’re in conflict with, and remind them that one behavior doesn’t define the entire person.
• Put yourself in the other person’s shoes. “You want to really work on acknowledging what the other person is saying,” says Werley. “even if you don’t totally understand why they’re feeling that way or don’t agree with the way that they’re describing the situation.” Imagining what the other person is feeling is a great way to help kids develop empathy. Depending on the situation, it might also make sense for your child to talk over the issue with the other person and make a point of listening actively — without interrupting. Practicing these skills can help kids resolve conflicts in the short term and become more empathetic in the long term.
• Consider the context. The time and place of the conflict will often dictate how kids respond to it, as will the nature of their relationship to the other person. In particular, Dr. Lee notes that it’s important for kids to know that conflicts with adults will often look different from conflicts with other kids. For example, a child who gets angry with a teacher during class might have to sit with those feelings until it’s possible to set up a private meeting with the teacher. Taking a step back to consider all the dynamics of a situation will set kids up to navigate the conflict more successfully.”

Madison Bashaw & Kelley Mitchell

DCE Counsellors

Did you know?

The next municipal election is on Oct. 20, 2025—an important component of this is the election of school trustees. Trustees are elected representatives who are knowledgeable about the communities they serve, and are accountable to students, families, staff and community members of a school division. Once sworn in, these individuals work diligently to promote and advocate for a strong public education system. Learn more

Black History Month

The month of February is Black History month and a great opportunity to celebrate inspiring Black Canadians. Throughout the month of February, we will feature different influential Black Canadians on the morning announcements such as Albertan pioneer, John Ware, and Mary Ann Shadd who was the first Black woman to edit and publish a newspaper in North America.

If you are curious about some inspiring black Canadians from both the present and the past, check out this interesting website: Periodic Table of Canadian Black History

Each square of this periodic features a different inspiring black Canadian who has made an impact in the world through science, the arts, politics, activism, athletics or entrepreneurialism. Check it out to be inspired!

Parents make the difference

Here is this week's article with helpful tips for families:

Turn your home into a haven for readers with these tips 

One of the most effective ways to get elementary schoolers to read is to surround them with a wide variety of reading material. In addition to filling your home with books, magazines and newspapers:

• Help your child own some books. It’s great to check out books from the library. But owning a few books can foster a sense of pride about reading in your child. You can find great deals on used books at library fundraisers, yard sales and thrift stores.
• Organize reading materials in containers, such as baskets, small boxes or magazine racks. These can fit in small spaces next to beds, couches and tables. They can even go in the car.
• Create a special reading spot in your child’s bedroom. Provide adequate lighting. At bedtime, say something like, “You’re old enough to stay up 15 minutes longer to read. Or, you can turn off the light at the same time as always. It’s up to you.” Your child will probably choose to stay up and read.

Reprinted with permission from the February 2025 issue of Parents make the difference!^®  (Elementary School Edition) newsletter. Copyright © 2025 The Parent Institute^®, a division of PaperClip Media, Inc.