Oct 9 - 13, 2023

Weekly Gazette Oct 9-13

Happy Thanksgiving to our Grizzly families!

We hope everyone has again had the chance to get out and enjoy the amazing weather we've been having! What a treat for a fall. Speaking of treats, here are some Halloween reminders and considerations to keep in mind as you're out buying costumes over the next few weeks. 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 10 oct

What's happening this week at École Parc:

Oct 9-Thanks Giving Day: No school for students

Oct 11-Grade 4 In school Field Trip-Light and Shadows

Oct 11-School Council and Fundraising Meeting 7:00

Upcoming Dates to be aware of:

Oct 19-Fire Drill

Oct 18-Picture Retakes

Oct 19-Fire Drill

Oct 30-Panago Hot Lunch-Kinder A

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

Oct 31-Halloween

We had our first monthly assembly of the year on Thursday, Oct. 5. It was so great to see our K to 6 students together in the gym! We also appreciated so much how many of our family members came out to support our students and the event. Thank you.

We will make one small shift for our future assemblies. We noticed that our guests parked in the bus lane, which conflicts with our PALS busing. We will shift our assemblies to 9:30 a.m. to ensure that parents can park in the bus lane, and not affect the busing.

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 and former service members 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 PowerSchool Parent Portal is an interactive web-based platform where parents and guardians can access attendance, grades and fee information for all students registered in the Division, as well as provide updates to family contact information as needed. One account provides access to the information about all students in your family, and the account remains active for as long as you have students registered in EIPS—there’s no need to create a new account each year. All new EIPS students are automatically connected to the applicable parent or guardian account.

For new EIPS families:

1. Go to https://powerschool.eips.ca/public.

2. In the ‘Username’ field, input the email address you provided on your child’s registration form.

3. Select ‘Forgot Password.’ You’ll receive an email with a link to create a new password.

4. Return to the main PowerSchool Parent Portal page and log in with your email address and new password.

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.

Alberta Health Services hosts a variety of virtual caregiver information sessions throughout the year focused on ways to support students’ mental health. The sessions are free and geared toward parents, caregivers, teachers and community members who want to learn more about challenges impacting children and adolescents. Session topics include anxiety, ADHD, depression, self-harm, technology, teens and teaching leadership skills, communication, resiliency and more. Visit Caregiver Education to see the monthly caregiver sessions.

As part of Elk Island Public Schools’ (EIPS) ongoing efforts to enhance the literacy and numeracy of students in all grade levels, the Division is once again administering the Star Early Literacy, Star Reading and Star Math assessment tools in the 2023-24 school year. These tools focus on literacy and numeracy, are digitally based and offer an opportunity for students to demonstrate their learning. The goal: To provide timely information to teachers, help enhance classroom instruction and identify student learning needs.

Three times a year, EIPS students in Grade 1 complete the Star Early Literacy assessment and students in grades 2-12 complete the Star Reading assessment. Both assessments are administered electronically and take about 20 minutes. Students in grades 2 through 10 also complete the Star Math, a mathematic screening tool. It, too, is administered electronically and takes about 30 minutes for students to complete. The results offer teachers a clearer picture of a student’s learning needs and help determine if subsequent instructional planning is required. NOTE: Semester students complete the Star Math twice, at the start and end of the course.

In addition to the Star assessments, Alberta Education now mandates all students in grades 1-3 complete additional literacy and numeracy assessments. Students in Grade 2 and Grade 3 complete these provincial assessments in September. Grade 1 students will complete the assessments in January 2023.

The scores of the assessments aren’t used toward a student’s grade, and there is no need to study ahead of time. The tools simply provide the teacher with information to better understand where each student is in terms of reading comprehension and mathematic ability. If, after analyzing the results, it’s determined a student can benefit from extra support, the teacher will contact the family to discuss possible support strategies.

For more information about the Division’s Star and MIPI assessment tools, contact EIPS Supports for Students at 780-464-3477.

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@mail.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.

Every month a representative from EPE school council attends COSC (Committee of School Councils). This is a gathering of representatives from all EIPS schools. Our first meeting of the year took place on Nov 4th.

The point of greatest value for many of our parents will be the much-anticipated release of the French Immersion survey results regarding the future of the program in Ardrossan. The results and recommendation are set to be released on Monday, October 16th with an anticipated Trustee vote on Thursday October. Make sure you check your inbox or the EIPS website for more information.

https://teachers.ab.ca/news/my-alberta-teacher-hero

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.