Colts Connection - Parents Edition

We wanted to send a huge "Thank You" to all of the volunteers who are able to support our school this year. We have had parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and even older siblings in to volunteer at our school. A special "Thank You" to the group of parents/guardians who volunteered to spend 3 days away from their family to go to Grade 6 Camp. Also the group of volunteers who come in every Monday to help fill snack bins for our snack program. With field trips and Track and Field days quickly approaching we know there will be many more people volunteering their time to help make these events happen. We are so grateful to have such a supportive school community! Thank you!

A reminder to any families with students who will be entering Kindergarten for the 2023/2024 school year to please make sure to register your child. If you have any day preferences, we fullfil these on a first come first serve basis. The sooner you register your child for Kindergarten, the more likely you are to get your choice of days.

It is also very helpful for the school for planning purposes if you know your child will not be attending Ponoka Elementary School for the 2023/2024 school year, please let our office know as soon as possible.

With the new district wide report card and regular reporting of student academic progress through the Parent Portal, student Report Cards are going to be posted digitally and can be accessed through your Parent Portal. The report card will be in PDF form and available on the last student day of the year (June 28th, 2023). The report card can be viewed digitally or can be downloaded and printed by the parents/guardians who have access to Parent Portal.

As this is all a new process, parent(s)/guardian(s) who have access to Parent Portal will not be able to see student grades in Parent Portal from now until June 28th when report cards are released.

If you can't access your Parent Portal, or don't remember your password, please make sure you contact the office right away as June 29th is the last day our office staff are in before the summer break.

The Honouring Spirit: Indigenous Student Awards are presented annually by the Alberta School Board Association to students selected by the awards committee. The committee will consider First Nations, Métis or Inuit student nominees who attend a school in Alberta, either operated by an ASBA member school board or a First Nations school, who have been nominated by members of their education community based on their exemplary leadership, honour, courage and commitment to their own education path.

Creedance Smallboy was nominated by members from our school for this award and has been recognized with an honourable mention award. Creedance is an amazing young man who is proud of his culture and shares about his culture whenever the opportunity arises. He is a hard working student dedicated to learning and improving every day. We are extremely proud of Creedance and he is very deserving of this recognition. Great job Creedance!

We received a grant through FCSS to support Mrs. Monks, our School Social Worker, in running Indigenous Girls Empowerment Group. The grant has supported the group in being able to bring in different speakers/presenters for the group of students. Thank you to FCSS for the grant money to be able to better support our students.

The Boys and Girls Club of Ponoka is putting on a fundraiser through our school called Carnival for Kids. Students are encouraged to collect pledges/donations for the Boys and Girls Club of Ponoka and bring them in on June 6th when all students will get the chance to play a variety of carnival games set up by the Boys and Girls Club of Ponoka (The Ponoka Youth Centre).

There is still a need for some more volunteers to ensure the day runs smoothly. If you are able to help out please contact the Youth Centre at (403) 783-3112.

As we make our way into June, there are many different classes and grades going on Field Trips in June. Please make sure you are logging into your Parent Portal to sign any consent forms and pay any fees. Unfortunately, students without signed consent forms are not able to attend field trips. This includes our annual swimming lessons at the Ponoka Aquaplex.

The Grade 6 students wrote Part A of their Language Arts Provincial Achievement Test on May 17th. This has the students writing a narrative story based on a picture prompt and a functional writing piece where they write a newspaper article based on the information provided to them. This is the longest of all tests as students are given two hours to write the two pieces, but can use up to four hours if needed.

The next set of tests start on June 20th with Language Arts Part B (Reading Comprehension) and continue on June 22 - Math Part A (Basic Facts Calculations), June 23 - Math Part B (Problem Solving), June 26th - Social Studies, and June 27th - Science.

We want to wish all of our Grade 6 students good luck as we know that week of tests can be grueling.

Official results are sent directly to parent(s)/guardian(s) in October, with unofficial locally marked results shared with parents via Parent Portal.

Students in Grade 1-4 will be completing the mandatory government Numeracy and Literacy Assessments. These assessments are done at the beginning and at the end of each school year. The end of year assessments are currently being administered to all Grade 1-4 students. The Fall assessments are used as a piece of information to help guide teachers with identifying student needs to implement the best supports possible. The same tests are used in the Spring for schools as one of many pieces of information to be able to see student growth and development within the year and to identify areas of strength and growth as a class/grade/school.

These assessments were tied to the governments COVID interruption grant funding, but will remain in place even though the grant funding has been eliminated from the budget for the 2023/2024 school year.

We will be hosting a Traditional Cree Feast for all grade 6 students and their families to celebrate their learning and to send them off to Ponoka Secondary Campus in a good way.

The ceremony will take place on Thursday, June 8th at 12:00 pm. The Feast will be outside (weather permitting) and if we experience inclement weather, the feast will be in the school gym.

We will also be having a Grade 6 Celebration Event on the afternoon of June 22th. All details of the event will be sent to parents of Grade 6 students shortly.

Kickstand Connect is offering a variety of workshops and webinars over the summer. From managing stress and anxiety to one-on-one appointments with trained health professionals, the free virtual walk-in clinic, exclusively designed for young Albertans aged 12 to 25, has the resources needed to thrive all year! Learn more & find how you can download the Kickstand app through the link above.

“Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning.
But for children, play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.”
-Fred Rogers

The article linked here discusses and describes the importance of play for children.

On Wednesday July 19th, 2023, from 9 am to 3 pm, at École Secondaire Lacombe Composite High School (Summer School), we will be hosting a Data Science Hackathon geared towards students currently in grades 5 and 6. This event, organized by Callysto, will teach students in-demand data science skills in a fun and challenging environment.

Callysto is a federally funded initiative to foster data science and computational thinking in Grades 5 to 12 in Canada. A recent hackathon hosted in Edmonton was a success, and this is an exciting opportunity for students and teachers in Wolf Creek Public Schools. Check out the feature story broadcasted on Global News

https://globalnews.ca/video/9620335/mcnally-high-school-hackathon

During this hackathon, students will be introduced to computational thinking and data science by Callysto staff. Students will then work on hackathon challenges for the rest of the day and submit it for judging, with chances to win prizes!

A huge thank you to all the families that came out to the PES School Council Family Dance on April 27th. We estimate about 500 people came through the doors that evening to dance the night away! It was such a great evening to see families enjoying and connecting with each other.

PES School Council is hosting a pancake breakfast for all PES students on the morning of June 19th. School Council is always looking for help on this day from pancake flipping and serving pancakes to helping the little ones cut their pancakes up. If you would like to help out with the pancake breakfast please contact Angie Taylor (School Council Chairperson). If you don't have Angie's contact information you can contact the office and we can connect you with her.

June 6 - Carnival for Kids! All pledges/donations must be in this day.

June 6 - Kindergarten Run, Jump, Throw

June 7 - Kindergarten Run, Jump, Throw

June 8 - Grade 6 Feast

June 9 - PD Day

June 9 - Bright Futures Play Academy Open House

June 14 - Gr 3-6 Track and Field

June 20 - Gr 1-2 Run Jump Throw Day

June 21 - National Indigenous Peoples Day

June 28 - Last day of school!

June 28 - Report Cards available on Parent Portal.