Oct 16 - 20, 2023

Weekly Gazette Oct 16 - 20

Wow! Are we ever into the swing of things around here! Our teachers have been busy learning about and implementing new curriculum in their classrooms. Our division has done a fabulous job supporting our teaching with rich professional development for the new curriculum. In addition, our students are also settling in nicely with the new concepts and new ways of thinking.

We are so pleased to announce that our Division 2 (grades 4 to 6) will be going to the movie "La legende de Sarila" on Friday, Oct. 27 in the morning. All division 2 French Immersion students will be together for the event. What a fabulous way to build community within our Division program! Div 2 families, watch out for a Permission Click from your teachers to approve your child's participation.

Halloween Reminders: Please remember costumes need to be "Elementary Friendly". Students are not allowed to bring in weapons or loose accessories that could become weapons. If costumes have a mask, students will be asked to keep the mask in their locker until the school parade at 2:00pm. Once the parade is over, they will then be asked to return masks to their lockers. Each class is celebrating the day a little differently, if you have specific questions about the afternoon, please email teachers directly. After last recess we will invite students down to the gym to participate in a "Halloween Parade" to show off their costumes in front of everyone. Parents are welcome to join us starting at 2:00pm that day (student will be invited to come down to the gym right after our last recess which ends at 2:04pm.) Once the parade is over, students will return to their classes and continue with activities that have been planned by the teacher.

• Please follow this link to watch our announcements: le 16 oct

What's happening this week at École Parc:

Oct 18-Picture Retakes

Oct 19-Fire Drill

Upcoming Dates to be aware of:

Oct 27-Grade 4 to 6 French Movie at Cineplex

Oct 30-Panago Hot Lunch-Kinder A

Oct 31-Panago Hot Lunch-Kinder B-Grade 6

Oct 31- Halloween

Nov. 1 - Early Out - Jersey Day

Nov 3 - Remembrance Day Ceremony at 10:30 a.m.

Nov. 6 to 10 - November Break

Nov. 15 - Kindergarten Transitions and PALS Parent-Teacher Interviews

Nov. 16 - PALS and French Immersion K - 6 Parent-Teacher Interviews

Nov. 21 - French Immersion K - 6 Parent-Teacher Interviews

At Ecole Parc, we continue to build positive citizenship through the guiding principles of the Seven Sacred Teachings. Each month, we encourage students to focus on one principle or teaching. Our teachers are looking for students who display great examples of this teaching in the classroom and throughout their day. These students may be recognized by earning the Citizenship award for their class. During the month of October, we are focused on the teaching of Wisdom.

On Friday, Nov. 3 Ecole Parc will be recognizing Remembrance Day. We welcome current service members, veterans, and parents for the ceremony. We ask that our visitors arrive for 10:30 a.m. Additionally, if your child is a Brownie, Girl Guide, Scout, Cadet, please email tandy.atchison@eips.ca as we like to include these students in our Colour Guard. We would ask they bring their uniform for the ceremony.

School fee information for the 2023-24 school year will be posted on the PowerSchool Parent Portal in late September. All fees are due within 30 days of being posted. To access your fee information, simply log in to the PowerSchool Parent Portal and go to “Student Fees.” There you can view your fees and pay online using a credit card.

Don’t forget to log in to the PowerSchool Parent Portal regularly throughout the year. Fees are often added to your child’s account to cover the cost of certain school activities such as field trips, class projects, athletic-team fees and more. Additionally, junior high and senior high fees can change as courses are added and deleted.

If you’re unable to pay your school fees, you can apply to have certain fees waived by submitting an Application for a Waiver of Fees. The application deadline is Dec. 15, 2023.

For more information about school fees, waivers and payment deadlines visit eips.ca. Alternatively, contact Sherri Prince, Business Manager at Ecole Parc at 780-998-3741.

To view your student's photos please log in to www.mylifetouch.ca and use your student's ALBERTA STUDENT NUMBER as the password(this is the password your child uses to log in at school). If you do not know the ASN, it is listed in Powerschool when you click on Student Fees. If you have any questions, please contact Life Touch. Thank you.

If your student is absent, being picked up early or will be arriving late, we ask that you please email our attendance email at EPEAttendance@eips.ca or call the school at 780-998-3741. Please send any DQ permissions to this email as well.

If your child requires any medication, please go online to ecoleparc.ca to access the form. Please do not send medication with your child. Please let us know if your child has any medical alert so that we may have the appropriate forms filled out.

The health and safety of staff, students and visitors is a top priority. Continue to reinforce the following hygiene habits to protect staff and students from spreading respiratory illnesses, including COVID-19.

• Stay home if you’re feeling sick.
• Wash or sanitize your hands often.
• Cover your coughs and sneezes.
• Avoid touching your face.
• Clean and disinfect high touch surfaces regularly.
• Wear a mask if you get sick or develop symptoms while at school or work.

As per Alberta Health guidelines, staff, students, contractors and visitors who have symptoms of respiratory Illness or test positive for COVID, should stay home until:

• symptoms have improved,
• they feel well enough to resume normal activities, and
• they have been fever-free for 24 hours without using fever-reducing medications.

For anyone who has a respiratory illness or has tested positive for COVID, it is recommended that they wear a mask for a total of 10 days from the onset of symptoms—even if the symptoms have resolved or improved—when in indoor settings with other individuals.

Join the University of Alberta and Amii for an engaging 45-minute online webinar designed to boost AI literacy for parents of kids of all ages, from kindergarten to graduate students. The session will focus on global citizenship, online safety, and education and career guidance.

Don't miss this fun and informative opportunity to empower your parenting in the age of AI, ensuring your kids thrive in tomorrow's tech-driven world.

Event Details:

Date: Nov. 2, 2023
Time: 10:30 a.m. to 11:15 p.m.

Location: Virtual
REGISTER NOW

Schools throughout Elk Island Public Schools (EIPS) are celebrating School Bus Safety Week October 15-21. The theme: ‘Stand Back From Yellow and Black,’ which focuses on proper school bus safety behaviour.

As part of School Bus Safety Week, Ecole Parc reminds students and families all Division school buses are equipped with a Tyler Drive tablet, bus-pass scanner, GPS technology, the Child Check-Mate system and surveillance equipment, which allows Student Transportation to better monitor and manage its more than 175 buses . Families and students also have access to the Traversa Ride 360 app , a mobile tool to help determine the location of a bus, projected arrival times and when a child is scanned onto a bus.

For more information, visit EIPS Student Transportation or contact 780-417-8151.

We are looking for one volunteer to help us audit our books! If you have an hour to spare, we need to complete our annual audit. No special skills or expertise are required. Please reach out to epeschoolcouncil@gmail.com if you can help.

Things you should know about the school council and the fundraising society!

Membership is open- If you are an important adult to one or more of our Grizzlies you are welcome to join us.

We are flexible- We know that families are busy. We would love to see you monthly but understand is some meetings are just too hard to get to, we’ll catch you next time!!

We want to hear from you- Do you have an idea on how we can enhance our school environment but cannot make the meetings? Send us an email at epeschoolcouncil@gmail.com

It is a place for connection- Not only do we get to connect with fellow parents but we also connect with both our school administrators, Tandy Atchison and Jade Jordan, and our trustee Ralph Sorochan.

Come join us at our next meeting on Wednesday, October 11th at @7pm in the library.

Our first Hot Lunch will be PANAGO!

Mon Oct 30 - Kinder A

Tues Oct 31 - Kinder B - Gr 6

Order Online @ www.epeschoolcouncil.com/hotlunch

Ordering closes Mon Oct 23 @ Noon!"

During the 2022/23 school year staff identified that the playground structures were not meeting the needs of all the students, both in type of structure, and space available for students to play. When the playground structure was first built in 2013 there were 180 students in the school. We now have 326. The population has doubled and we have a larger group of students in the PALS and Division 1 (K-3) age group. The existing play structure is designed for ages 5-12. We need an additional play area that meets the needs of students aged 4-8. The goal is to have the project completed within 3 years.

We are excited to hit the ground running with this and officially kick things off this year. We are always looking for more volunteers to join the committee. We meet once a month, time commitment is flexible and there is always lots to do and input needed.

If you are interested in joining the committee or would like more information please feel free to email us at ecoleparcplaygroundexpansion@gmail.com.