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Mustang Memo - January 24, 2025

Learning about the 5 senses is tasty!

Despite the powerful winds, this week was full of fun!

Thank you to the Grade 6 students who led two assemblies this afternoon all about the importance of sleep! They taught us about why we should stop screen time one hour before bed and why exercise is important for helping us to have a better night's sleep. They also dazzled us with a few excellent jokes like this one: 

Where does a gingerbread man sleep? On a cookie sheet!

We were proud of our students as they demonstrated excellent public speaking and leadership skills. Leading the whole school in activities can be scary! Most adults would feel nervous speaking in front of so many students - congratulations to all!

Helene Hewitt & Jay Robertson

Principal & Assistant Principal

You belong here!

Table of Contents

Week At a Glance

Action

  • Fee Survey
  • Returning Student Registration
  • Kindergarten Registration

Opportunity 

  • Family Math Night
  • Digital Wellbeing Parent Session
  • Junior High Open Houses

Information

  • Counsellor's Corner
  • Personal Devices at School
  • Drop Off and Pick Up Woe
  • Parents Make the Difference

WEEK AT A GLANCE

Monday
  • Jeans & Jersey Day
  • Complete the Fee Survey!
  • Swimming Lessons (Clark & Snaterse) @ 1:45
  • Track Team Practice 8am
  • Lunch clubs:
    • Cute Things Club - Gr. 5
    • Gr. 6 Badminton last recess
Tuesday
  • Family Math Night @ 5:30 p.m.!
  • Track Team practice 8am
  • Swimming lessons:
    • Siminick & Campbell @ 9:15 a.m.
    • Breen & Parker @ 10 a.m.
    • Gillis & Ennis @ 10:45 a.m
    • Drechsel & Ms. Heidi @ 1:45 p.m.
  • Lunch clubs:
    • Pokémon Club - Gr. 4
    • D & D Club - Gr. 5
    • Propagation Fascination Club - Gr. 1 & 2
Wednesday
  • Professional Learning Day - no school for students
Thursday
  • Jeans & Jersey Day
  • Swimming lessons Oslanski 1:45
  • Lunch clubs:
    • Pokémon Club - Gr. 3
    • Propagation Fascination Club - Gr. 2 & 3
    • Gr. 6 Badminton lunch and last recess
Friday
  • DCE End of January Party in the gym (Leadership student run event)
  • Gr. 6 Bookfair shopping at lunch
  • Lunch clubs:
    • Drama Club Gr. 5 & 6 (information session)
  • Mustang Memo posted online

ACTION

Fee Survey

Thank you to the many parents who joined our last school council meeting to learn about school fees. If you couldn't attend or if you have some additional feedback to share, this is your opportunity!

We invite you to fill out our fee survey to share your thoughts about how we should set fees for the 2025-26 school year. We want to know what you think about field trips, swimming lessons, and fees in general to help us make good decisions in the future.

Families may choose to add their contact information to the survey to be entered to win a $50 Sobeys gift card! This is our thank you for taking the time to share you thoughts with us!

Click here to start the survey. 

Returning Student Registration for 2025-26

The Elk Island Public Schools (EIPS) returning student registration process for 2025-26 takes place Feb. 10-24, 2025. Through the online form, all families will confirm the school and program their child will attend next year or advise the Division if they aren’t returning. For students who want to attend a non-designated school next year, these requests must be submitted through the returning student registration process—acceptance is based on available space.

On February 10, the parent/guardian on file in PowerSchool identified as the Permission Click contact for each pre-kindergarten to Grade 11 student will receive an email through Permission Click with a link to the form. If your family hasn’t received any Permission Click forms this school year, contact the school office so we can investigate any technical issues before registration season.

Kindergarten Registration Starts Soon!

Is your child turning five on or before Dec. 31, 2025? If so, it’s almost time to register for kindergarten.

Kindergarten registration opens for the 2025-26 school year on Feb. 1, 2025.

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.

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

OPPORTUNITY

Family Math Night 

Do you like playing games? Are you a card shark? Can you roll the dice for a perfect snake eyes?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you need to come to our Family Math Night! Games that support math fact fluency will be set up all over the school in teacher classrooms. Each station has games designed for younger and older students as well as the materials needed to play the games. Once you visit a station and play the game, each child that participates will win a raffle ticket that you can use to win one of our 7 prize baskets!

Although having fun playing games is its own reward, we will also have a prize basket that was designed for each grade level. Baskets will contain a book of math games for the target grade level as well as other items such as table games, snacks and other items to set up a family game night at home! 

We hope that you can make it! Here are the details

When: January 29, 2025

Where: Davidson Creek Elementary

Time: 5:30 to 6:30 PM

Who: DCE families!

We'll see you there!

Digital Well-Being: For Parents and Caregivers of Youth Ages 9 - 14 years

Learn how to help your child with the social and technological pressures they face in the world today. Together we will go through research-based ways we can support teens when they are feeling the pressure of their digital lives. Issues addressed include interacting with strangers online, understanding their digital identity, and healthy relationships. 

The content of this workshop is geared for parents and caregivers with children between 9-14 years of age. 
  
The presentation is from 6 to 7:30 pm, with an opportunity for Q & A from 7:30 to 8 pm

Date: Thursday, January 30, 2025, 6 – 7:30pm

Location: Wes Hosford Elementary Library

Sign Up:

Digital Well-Being: For Parents and Caregivers of Youth Ages 9 - 14 years, Thursday, January 30, 2025, 6 - 7:30pm - Family and parenting supports | Strathcona County

Junior High Open Houses 

Do you have a student in Grade 6 and are wondering about Junior High? Some schools are hosting open houses to answer your questions. To find out when and where, click here for a listing of open houses happening in January and February before the returning student registration process is finished. 

INFORMATION

Counsellor's Corner

DCE’s amazing mental health capacity builder, Miss Julia, has shared a really cool event coming up in our community. Please see below for details!

“We are pleased to announce the grand opening of the Strathcona County Family Resource Network! To celebrate, we will be hosting a welcoming drop-in event at our new location, open to all families. Join us for an enjoyable afternoon featuring games, snacks, and exciting giveaways. We look forward to seeing you there!”

Family Resource Network (FRN) Grand Opening

Saturday, February 1, 1 - 4 p.m. ⏐ 160 Festival Way, Sherwood Park

Celebrate our vibrant, new space with us and learn about the FRN. This event is fun for families with kids of all ages and includes:

  • Airbrush tattoos
  • Arts and crafts
  • Indoor and outdoor games and activities
  • Photo booth
  • Snacks
  • Giveaways
  • And more!

Please remember to dress appropriately for arts and crafts and outdoor activities!

No registration required. Parking available:

  • Onsite
  • Festival Place
  • Centre in the Park Parkade (entrance next to Remedy)
  • Community Centre

Personal Devices at School

Did you know that we have a policy on student personal devices at school? 

In accordance with Administrative Procedure 145: Use of Personal Communication Devices, student personal devices such as cell phones and tablets are not to be operated by students during the school day or during any school sponsored activity, such as an assembly or field trip. Exceptions will be made for students with a diagnosed medical condition or an identified inclusive educational need where a specific plan will be established as a home and school team.

If a student brings a personal device to school, they must comply with Adminstrative Procedure 350: Student Conduct. Student cell phones or other personal devices will be stored by teachers in a locked cabinet at the start of the day and will be returned to them at dismissal. Student are not permitted to keep personal devices on their person, in their lockers or in their desks.

As leaders of technology, our goal is to help students develop digital citizenship through the responsible use of technology. Students will have opportunities to learn about online safety and how to be productive and responsible digital citizens during health lessons.

Students are not permitted to film or photograph school community members on personal devices. The school is not responsible for the loss or damage of personal devices.

Drop Off and Pick Up Woes

As the leaders of DCE, we are very proud of our students and the warmth and kindness that are so evident within this community. Imagine our surprise when we heard from some of our neighbours who share the street with our school that our families are parking their cars in ways that block driveways or in front of signs that are clearly marked as "no stopping at anytime". 

Can you imagine having an appointment and going to leave your house only to find a car parked on or across the front of your driveway, no driver in sight? That would be very frustrating!

Please show our neighbours that we live our school values and treat others how we want to be treated. While it might mean walking a bit longer as you park farther away, or coming a bit earlier or a bit later, please respect the neighbourhood and respect traffic laws.

We will be sending photos of cars and license plates of people choosing to disregard traffic laws to the traffic bylaw officer going forward. Thanks for helping us to solve this problem!

Parents make the difference

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

Boost relationship skills by teaching how to resolve conflicts

Whether it’s a dispute with a classmate, a misunderstanding with a teacher or an argument with a sibling—all children experience conflict in their everyday lives.

To resolve conflicts productively, encourage your child to:

  • Avoid name-calling. Demonstrate how to use “I messages” to explain feelings instead of “you messages” that blame the other person.
  • Hear the other person out and try to understand their point of view.
  • Calm down and think before acting. Many times, a situation gets out of hand because people allow their emotions to control their actions.
  • Consider a compromise. Your child is more likely to resolve a conflict successfully by looking for a solution where everyone gives a little and gets a little, too.
  • Ask for help when needed. Sometimes it takes a mediator to resolve a conflict. A parent or teacher may be able to help.
  • Stand up for the rights of others who may have been wronged in the conflict.
  • Be willing to apologize when at fault.

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

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